THE SIXTH WORK 



THE SIXTH WORK; 



% %Rtg of Ifcnl iffmi 



S. MEREDITH. 



in prison, and ye came unto me." — Matt, xxv., 36. 




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%QXthoxi: 
JACKSON, WALFORD, AND HODDER, 



27, PATERNOSTER ROW 
MDCCCLXVI. 






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iaiton ©artrwt, &.C. 









PREFACE. 



The purpose of the writer of this little book is to in- 
duce consideration for the case of those whom Chris- 
tians too commonly exclude from their sympathy. 

In an attempt which is being made to assist women 
who are struggling back to honesty and virtuous living, 
many obstacles are encountered, arising from ignorance 
of the condition of criminals, and neglect of their claim 
on the moral members of society. The publication 
of a short account of some movements connected with 
them is, therefore, believed to be much needed. 



S. Meeedith. 

Bayswater, 1866, 



11431 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I, 
§0pfer Jtttest xa $wsam. 

Pzgc 
The Prison Force . . Unnatural Substitution . . The Prison 
Compass . . Absence of a National Sentiment . . The Three 
Cases . . Infanticide . . Difficulty of Co-operation . . Evidence 
of Statistics . . The Thought Movement . . Mrs. Fry . . John 
Howard . . Moral Effort Neglected 1 

CHAPTER II. 

fttogiixal W&oxk in prams. 

Thirty years' Experience . . Plenty of Chaplains and Lay 
Teachers . . Great Eeligious Zeal . . Testimony of Witnesses . . 
Lincolnshire Tom . . Disappointment . . Ee-convictions . . Im- 
position . . Conversions . . Despairing Tone . . Excessive Obdu- 
racy . . No Place of Eepentance . . The Story of A. B. . . Con- 
sistency. .C. D.'s Case. .Her own account of her Conversion 
. . Sense of Guilt . . Outside the Pale 24 



Vlll CONTENTS . 

CHAPTER in, 

W$t %aritj at Iteal ftffirck 

Page 

The Service of Christ . . Tabular Statement of Christian Social 
Duty . . Classification of Work and Workers . . Unconscious- 
ness . . Thoroughness of Action . . Six Forms of Service . . 
Representative Terms . . The Gospel Poor-Law . . The Order of 
Divine Providence . . Bodily Wants— floral Trial . . God's 
Time to Deprive. .The First Three Deeds. .. Morality Im- 
possible to Counterfeit . . The Value of the Schedule . . The 
Accuracy of Christ's Summary. .Vague Distribution. .Love's 
Labour Lost . ." Good Work " and "Bad Work" . .Private 
Christian Sentiment made Public Duty . . State Provision for 
the Poor . . Pauperdom . . Almsgiving . . Interchanging Classes 
. . Degeneration . . Xone Excluded . . Figurative Language . . 
Bishop Ridley's Letter. . Resisted Work , 47 



HAPTER iy. 
in ftmtim. 

SYMPATHY WITH CRIMINALS. 

A Strong Repulsion . . Jewish Prisons . . The Repealed Law . . 
Our Cruelties . . A Remarkable Lesson . . Imprisonment Sanc- 
tioned . . A House of Mercy 74 

CHAPTER Y. 

Deterioration of Prisoners .. The Sense of the Age .. Retalia- 
tion . . Heathen Jurisprudence . . Ancient Lawgivers . . Tran- 



CONTENTS. IX 

Page 
sition-difficulty . . Forfeited Right . . Prejudice against Prison- 
ers' Labour . . Honest Industry . . The Sweat of the Brow . . 
Prayer and Visiting . 83 



CHAPTEE VI. 

WARD NO. I. 
REFORMATORIES AND INDUSTRIAL SCHOOLS. 

Classification . . Reformatory Schools' Act . . The Presence of a 
Child. .The Great Effort. .The Unreclaimed District. .Pro- 
portioned Fertility . . " Be Good " . . Poor Little Outsiders . . 
Interest in the Movement. . " Cannot be gotten for Gold " . . 
Testimony of Vicious Pupils . . A Baby Prisoner . . The Ad- 
vantages of the Connection . . Influence of Love and Gratitude 
. . Continental States Advanced . . Mettray and Rauhe Haus 
Training-schools . . Superior Moral Effort possible in Foreign 
Prisons 96 



CHAPTEE, VII. 

%l]t Cgrle irf €ximt. 

Mapped Orbit .. Reversed Action. .Crime's First Phase.. 
Dimensions of the Phases . . Within our Horizon . . Distress- 
ing Cognomen . . ARectified Growth . . The Midnight of Crime 
. ." Years of Discretion" . .The Age of Will. .The Doings 
of Will . . Ghastly Spectacles . . Local Influences . . Occupation 
and "no Occupation ".." By all means to save some".. 
Attention and Endeavour 115 



* CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER VIII. 

Page 
Repugnance of Good "Women to Bad . . Shocking Tales . . One 
of the "Worst Cases . . A Fail- Account . . Human Uprightness 
and Amiability not Objectionable . . Conversion not Super- 
seded . . Peculiar Influence . . Transformation . . Symptom of 
Disease. ."Women's Organization. .Brutalizing Treatment. . 
Female Criminals fewer than Male . . Their Crimes Differ- 
ent . . The Judicial Catalogue . . Petty Thefts . . Foundation 
of Female Dignity . . A New Trial . . Conversations with Peter 
. . Provision against Immorality . . Conviction . . Characteristic 
Concealment . . Sensations Personal . . Ladies' Duty . . Discri- 
mination and Guidance . . The " Cloak " . . Eestored Cases . . 
Supervision Circle . . Dangerous Familiarity with Scripture 
. . Delusion. .Distorted Minds 12(V 

CHAPTER IX. 

Impetus given by Temperance Movement . . Teetotalism a Bless- 
ing.. No Apologist Required .. Disparities between Dis- 
honesty and Intemperance . . Serious Elements . . Voluntary 
Honesty Pledge . . Tenderness of Conscience . . Application to 
Family Life. .Adoption in Schools .. Regular Institution in 
an Industrial School . . " NojExperience Telling " . . The Met- 
tray Ring .. Utility of a Token , . Stimulating Publicity.. 
Working-Men's Opinion .. Bricklayer and Labourer .. Spe- 
cial Meetings. .Religious Movement. .Converted Criminals' 
Association . . Addresses to Specified Malefactoi s . . Bracing 
the Young Mind . . Rudimentary Method . . Vows . . Ancient 
Practice . . Small Sense of Integrity . . Upright Commercial 

. Transactions . . A Check in Time . . M. C. and her Sister . . 
J. S.'s Moral Difficulties .. Capability of Ex- Criminals . . 
Testimony to Honesty Pledge . . Government Agency . . 
Women's Need. . Registration Desirable . .Simple Machinery 
, .Mr. Recorder Hill's Conclusion. ..The Sixth "Work Blessed 153 



THE SIXTH WORK 



CHAPTEE I. 

Puplar Jftttai fat fJmMk 

The Prison Force . . Unnatural Substitution . . The Prison Compass 
. . Absence of a National Sentiment . . The Three Cases . . Infanti- 
cide . . Difficulty of Co-operation . . Evidence of Statistics . . The 
Thought Movement . . Mrs. Fry . . John Howard . , Moral Effort 
Neglected. 

It is not clear to many persons that they have any- 
thing to do with prisons ; and as mere places of deten- 
tion, this is, probably, true. But it is otherwise with 
the principle involved in them. This comes within the 
province of most of us, for the prison is the embodi- 
ment of a certain moral sense, with which we all have to 
do, both in ourselves and others. The strength or 
weakness of this moral sense, its growth or decay, is 



THE SIXTH WOEK. 



matter of deep concern to us all. We are all generally 
acquainted with its working, though, perhaps, some of us 
do not give much attention to the action by which it is 
promoted, nor watch with any particular care the agencies 
that restrain and corrupt it. The prison subject cannot 
be wholly uninteresting to any man; and it simplifies 
itself to every comprehension, when it is reflected 
that there is represented in the prison, the final attempt 
to produce that sentiment which our mothers try to 
develop, from the earliest dawn of reason; and which, 
cultivated by the training of Christianity, forms that Tight- 
ness of conduct which, as a community, we maintain by 
example, explain by precept, and insist on by force. 

The prison is tins force ; and society has a right to 
use it, after it has tried the other primary means of 
procuring morality. Unfortunately we, in some cases, 
have to use the prison force first; because that 
which, in the natural order, should have preceded 
it has been omitted. It is not uncommon to see, 
in the case of a wrong-doing child, a severe exertion 
of physical control on the part of a parent, who has 
not attempted the moral culture of his child ; and the 
Government has, hitherto, had no resource but the prison, 



UNNATURAL SUBSTITUTION. O 

to supply this training of which its people are too fre- 
quently deprived. It is impossible to think of the 
thousands who inhabit our prisons, without being pain- 
fully reminded of the lack of the sense of parental re- 
sponsibility, in a large class in the community, which 
their circumstances evince. There are fathers and 
mothers who do their work badly ; and their deficiency is 
ill supplied by any other agency. 

Combined poverty, ignorance, and vice, almost destroy 
parental morals, in the ranks to which we refer ; and, for 
the offspring of such depraved persons, we must have 
prisons. Our innumerable charity schools are found to do 
little to make up to this section of the population the loss 
it suffers. The special teaching which, in the first years 
of life, subdues the brute element, either is not effectually 
given in them, or they do not reach the class where 
the deficiency is. This is specially unfortunate ; for the 
women of the ranks to which criminals chiefly belong, 
have lost the mother-art with which the sex is en- 
dowed, for the express purpose of training the animal 
passions in their earliest, softest, and tenderest time, 
before the strength of manhood makes their evil ten- 
dencies such formidable monsters, that the subjection of 



4 THE SIXTH WORK. 

them can only be attempted by overwhelming physical 
opposition. 

The stone walls, iron bars, and ponderous locks and 
keys of the great places in which we incarcerate our offend- 
ers tell a solemn tale. They speak of an unnatural 
substitution of matter for mind, of body for soul, of 
animal for moral power; and announce a void which no 
artificial contrivance can fill. While it exists prisons 
must multiply; and because of it we must construct 
them, and fill them : while mothers train not, and 
schools are ineffective, there must be prisons. In the 
present chapter, however, we do not touch the questions 
that these circumstances suggest. 

There are 190 gaols and prisons in England, contain- 
ing about four-and-twenty thousand persons ; and, besides 
these, Bridewells, lock-ups, and station-houses, in every 
town and village, hold fresh supplies, ready to enter and 
fill the vacant places which, from time to time, occur 
within their walls. The prisons are never empty. Inmates 
keep flowing through them in a steady current, which 
circulates with a regularity that can be calculated with 
tidal accuracy. Prison- work is reduced to a mechanical 
process ; and, when it is carried out, the result is abso- 



THE PRISON COMPASS. 5 

lutely nothing! The whole labour is profitless; we 
are just where we began. There is no impression made 
on the criminal mass; it is as great as ever — as hard 
as ever — as impenetrable as ever. There it t is — a glaring 
streak through the body of society, forming one of the 
strata in that human concrete. We stare at it in won- 
der ; not now, indeed, as to how it got there, intruding 
between layers of materials so different from its 
elements ; for we but too well know its origin, and the 
cause of its maintenance. But we gaze at it with the most 
lively speculation, as to whether its particles will, or not, 
amalgamate with the neighbouring sections, or assimi- 
late itself with their virtuous and moral members ; and, 
whether, and how, these people, so isolated, and so de- 
based, shall be induced to become, at least, moral, if 
they do not rise to the higher state, and become the 
subjects of quickening grace, and attain to eternal life. 

Examination of the whole of this case leads us to the 
conclusion, that the condition of the criminal class de- 
pends on prison work ; much more than may be thought, 
perhaps nearly all that can be done for it, must be done 
in the prison. Although schools for the young take 
precedence in point of time, prisons are before them in 



6 THE SIXTH WORK. 

importance. The moral teaching of children cannot be 
too strongly urged ; and this is the business of the 
schools. But the moral reformation of the mature is 
still more powerfully to be insisted on ; and the prison 
is the place where it is to be attempted. One of these 
agencies is for the children, the other is for the parents. 
It is not unusual to hear people solemnly give up the 
latter, and resolve to leave them to their fate, while they 
devote all effort to the former. But this is neither poli- 
tical economy, social science, nor Christianity. The 
progenitor is of the utmost consequence to the race ; 
however important the school is, the prison is no less 
so. Within the compass of the latter, the whole want 
may possibly be supplied ; and while the earlier training 
effort has, necessarily, a limit to its powers, there are 
capabilities in imprisonment which render it peculiarly 
applicable to the extremity of the case. 

There is not enough known about this instrumentality. 
Most men rest contentedly under the impression that, 
because there is a department of Government specially or- 
ganized for the purpose of conducting the penal machinery 
of the State, and for administering the jurisprudence 
connected with it, they are exempt from all further 



ABSENCE OF A NATIONAL SENTIMENT. 7 

concern on the subject. They readily admit that diffi- 
cult questions are involved in its action. They easily 
believe that it is a very defective branch of the legisla- 
ture ; and they systematically pass over the considera- 
tion of it. They do not feel competent to enter on it, 
so they avoid it, and go on with as little notice of it as 
possible. This line of conduct has become a national 
habit ; and, hence, the national action in this case is 
rather an indication of the absence of a national senti- 
ment on the subject, than its expression. Public 
opinion about the matter is unsettled and vague. Eor 
example, ignorance and uncertainty are displayed in the 
debates on capital punishment, which, from time to 
time, break the popular silence on criminal law. The 
right and wrong of this one item alone puzzles all 
parties. The fixed standard of appeal in this, as in all 
other points relating to the treatment of crime, is un- 
known or disregarded ; and few persons feel able to 
take either side of the argument. 

So advanced a community should not remain in this 
State of doubt and perplexity. The light of truth is bright- 
ening ; Christianity emblazons itself everywhere. Diffu- 
sion of knowledge is the rule of the day ; but with the 



THE SIXTH WORK. 



vast increase of information, clearness of apprehension 
does not keep pace. There is ever the difficulty of 
discerning specious error from truth ; and in no 
case is it more trying, than in that of the prison 
question. The real, pure doctrines of Christianity have 
been so mixed up with spurious wisdom, that the task 
of separating the one from the other requires spiritual 
understanding, gifted to perceive, and to trace, the 
Divine mind, beneath the superincumbency"of human 
imaginations. The word prison conveys to the majority 
of persons something perfectly foreign to anything Chris- 
tian, Justice, and, perhaps, mercy rise before their 
thoughts, at the sound ; and a compound conception is 
the result, which serves only to confuse their notions of 
the nature and utility of such an institution. 

There has been, latterly, great awakening of interest 
about the moral state of our community. Points inti- 
mately connected with it, are continually under investiga- 
tion ; and this renders it easier now to draw forward 
the case of the criminal, and to .bring the popular mind 
to the discussion of its difficulties than formerly. Poor 
relief, and sanitary measures, engage the serious attention 
of society; and the condition of the criminal should natu- 



THE THREE CASES* U 

rally come next under consideration. The three cases can- 
not be severed ; they are associated indissolubly by ties 
of cause and effect ; and any attempt to treat them dis- 
jointedly must be unsuccessful. A considerable amount 
of action is undertaken in each of the other instances; and 
every day it increases in zeal and vigour. The intelligent 
performance of such Christian work, as the classes sunk 
in poverty, sickness, and crime demand, is the most im- 
portant movement of our time. On it depends our social 
progress ; and especially on the efficiency of that which 
concerns the latter. In truth, our material prosperity, 
without corresponding moral elevation, would but 
inaugurate national decay. The virtue of its people 
alone advances a country to honour. 

" Righteousness exalte th a nation, and sin is a dis- 
grace to any people. " 

It is a circumstance of which we are compelled to take 
cognizance, that our social moral tone is not so high as 
our religious profession requires. The judicial calendar 
does not consist with the character of our piety ; and 
while we boast of increased spiritual light, we have to 
mourn, not only that offences against the law of Christ 
do not diminish in number nor nature, but that there 



10 THE SIXTH WORK. 

is not sufficient protest against this condition, nor enough 
effort to amend it. Without referring to statistics, any 
one at all familiar with social affairs, must be aware that 
there is a great deal of evil not only unsubdued among 
us, but almost tolerated, and subjected to very little 
Christian effort to suppress. Yice and crime fill a large 
space in the history of the day, the pages of which, 
published so actively by the press, spread over the 
land a record of shame, and carry the distressing com- 
munication far and wide. 

No one can hear unmoved of the growth of the terri- 
ble sin of infanticide which is degrading us. This 
alone stamps us as having far departed from the stand- 
ard of purity. There is a deep and awful significance in 
this crime. It is not a detached act ; alas, it is but one 
of a train of deeds tending to strike at the root of life 
temporal and eternal. There is in the unmotherly hand 
which commits it a horrible force, derived from an 
influence de-humanizing in its venom. All that is holy 
and true in our nature is being poisoned at its source. 
The generations of evil succeed each other : u Lust, 
when it conceiveth, bringeth forth sin, and sin, when it 
is finished, bringeth forth death." The suicide of our 
race is involved in the child-murder that abounds. 



INFANTICIDE. 11 

The concern of women in the progress of crime, natu- 
rally centres itself in this point of guilt ; and the facts 
connected with it, daily coming to light, should move 
them in the deepest seat of their sensations. That 
this age of knowledge and instruction should be 
marked by the most hideous form of wickedness* 
is humiliating in the most distressing degree; and 
that, at this time, the prophetic question : " Can a woman 
forget her sucking child, that she should not have com- 
passion on the son of her womb ?" should be answered in 
the affirmative, is enough to shake the faith of the stoutest 
believer, in the efficacy of the kind of Gospel teaching, 
which is given in such abundance, throughout the length 
and breadth of the land. Bad as the act of the wretched 
female is, who first stifles her motherhood, and then 

her offspring, it is not the worst feature of this unhappy 
case. 

The wise and practical authoress of Ragged Homes, 
and How to Mend Them, said to the writer, in re- 
ference to this matter : 

" I do not, now, only say to mothers, ' Train your 
daughters/ but I say, ' Train your sons/ " 

These words conveyed much, concerning the mis- 
chief in process, its cause and cure. No action can 



12 THE SIXTH WOBK. 

directly reach it, nor interfere specially with it, for the 
surroundings of it are on all sides dangerous ; and we 
are not in a state to approach the stronghold, until we 
have mastered the outposts of this iniquity.* 

Every report of the efforts to benefit the poor and the 
sick is refreshing. It is gratifying to know that, day by 
day, the number of those who work in their behalf is 
being added to. The workhouse door is opened to a 
larger charity, which is carrying a better system of 
management into its sad enclosure. Science is throwing 
light on disease, and doing its best to lessen mortality. 
It remains for us to hear, that these two are in co-opera- 
tion with an improved scheme of judicial administration, 
in order to entertain any solid expectation of moral 
good, from all the Christian work in process. Without a 

* It is to be remarked, that the objection to the infliction 
of capital punishment on these offenders increases. They 
escape in most instances, by being arraigned on the lighter 
charge of concealment of birth ; and, when convicted of the 
graver crime, they procure commutation of sentence on 
various grounds. This inconsistency is attributable to one 
of two causes ; either there is a strong popular feeling against 
the punishment of death, or there is not a deep seuse of the 
enormity of this special offence. 



DIFFICULTY OF CO-OPERATION. 13 

distinct action for the amelioration of criminals, there 
can be no well-ascertained progress. There may be 
speculation on the moral state of the country, but it will 
not have a basis on which to ground its calculations ; 
and, without this, they are worthless and misleading. 
There is, however, some effort for the suppression of crime 
going on. The centralization of thought on the subject 
is very important, for with fixed purposes, and deter- 
mined co-operation, much service might be rendered to 
the community. 

Many very pious people hear with great anxiety of the 
abounding sin of the times ; and are at a loss to know 
what their duty is in the case. They are willing to 
give their best endeavours to the matter; but cannot 
discover where to begin to work, whom to join, and 
what to do. This is to be deplored, for every good 
man and woman may work in this cause ; and the 
field of labour is at each person's door. Any willing 
heart and hand may perform some act in it. Every one 
who lives a moral life raises the moral pitch of society ; 
and every one who checks an immoral deed in his neigh- 
bour, sows a precious seed, the bloom of which will shed 
a sweetness on the dark desert of crime. 



14 THE SIXTH WORK. 

But there is difficulty in forming any regular agency 
or association, for the purpose of doing this work ; and in 
arriving at a point where combinations may be formed to 
carry it out. In order to unite for practical interference 
with crime, a common principle must be accepted, as the 
ground of the movement ; and this must be well and 
thoroughly understood, by those who undertake it. It 
is vitally important to begin the ventilation of ideas 
connected with the subject ; and it is specially wise to 
inquire into the nature and practice of all the present 
modes of attempting the work. 

Penal law, and religion, have been the only opera- 
tions brought to bear on the criminal class ; and both 
have been doing much to meet the evil. The result of 
their work cannot be easily seen, for it cannot be 
gathered in any tangible form, in order to submit it 
to examination. The figures to be derived from the 
judicial reports of the last few years, which appear 
to prove that the country is at a stand- still in regard 
to crime, and neither getting better nor worse, are 
not to be relied on. The prima facie evidence to be 
deduced from these statistics must be received with 
large reservation ; not even an approximate conclusion 



EVIDENCE OE STATISTICS. 15 

can be drawn from them, as at present collected. The 
difficulty of contrasting the number of offenders com- 
mitted to prison with the main body of crime is great. 
The machinery in use for the purpose of tracing guilt is 
in so many known instances inefficacious that it defies 
calculation, in how many unknown ones it may be so 
also ! Therefore, we may reasonably decide, that the 
proportion of variation between the limits of committals, 
and the area of crime is beyond our ken ; and we may 
cease to draw inferences, from such data as we at present 
possess. We cannot avoid the force of the evidence to 
be derived from the daily state of morality that we are 
called on to observe ; and it lies as a counterbalance to 
the statement of official returns. 

When we say, in general terms, that religion, as 
well as judicial action, has failed to produce the de- 
sired results, we merely assert that it has not effected 
the moral reformation, at which it is the duty of the 
community to aim. Restoration to orderly, honest, 
sober living, is the design society has in view, in the 
treatment of the criminals. The higher object of interest, 
their eternal happiness, is not the sole purpose of its 
interference. Its executive power is exercised, primarily, 



16 THE SIXTH WORK. 

for the general good, the protection of its innocent 
members from the ill conduct of the vicious; and for 
the prevention of repeated offences, on the part of the 
same person. This is the whole undertaking of the 
State in the matter ; and it uses for its purpose the 
operations to which we have referred. One of these, 
the religious teaching which it has employed, has been 
very liberally supplied. For some years past, there can 
be no blame attached to the Government, on the score 
of inattention to the spiritual concerns of the culprits, 
who come under its control. Evangelical instruction has 
been largely given in prisons; and the freest pos- 
sible access has been afforded, to the ministry of the 
Gospel. 

The labours of prison reformers effected this ; and, in 
so doing, they accomplished a great deal. There was a 
time when darkness, grosser than Egyptian, was on the 
prisons of this country; and the ray of light which 
could alone penetrate it was Christian love; especially 
that higher form of it, which contemplates the salvation 
of man's soul. 

Erom time to time, great thinkers had been ponder- 
ing on penal administration. There was, at one period 



THE THOUGHT MOVEMENT. 17 

a simultaneous mental movement in various parts of 
Europe on the subject. Thought, with such a weighty 
theme to carry, moved slowly; and deductions from 
its evolutions were still more delayed. There is 
scarcely yet an acknowledged and acted-on principle of 
prison discipline,* notwithstanding the amount Of atten- 
tion the matter has received. 

Montesquieu, Beccaria, and Yoltaire, on the Conti- 
nent, Eden, Mabley, and Paley, in England, have tried to 
come to some conclusion, as to the fundamental error in 
the common method of treating crime, but without suc- 
cess. While Addison, Steele, and Defoe were gracing 
English literature with their refined writings, Howard 
and Blackstone were labouring to condense legal and 
benevolent thought on the prison subject ; and they have 
marked the period in which they lived, as the crisis of 
modern intelligence on the penal question. They gave a 
fresh start to the work of moral reformation, but the im- 
pulse has left slight trace on the face of society. Bentbam 
had made a previous effort of the same sort, with as 
little result ; and when Buxton's reports developed the 

* J. S. Mill. Political Economy, p. 528. 

C 



18 THE SIXTH WORK. 

smallness of their achievements, the public seemed to 
have so little hope left, of any benefit from the wisdom 
of the sages, that, even the most irreligious sections of it, 
welcomed the pious Elizabeth Fry to the mission. 

Mrs. Fry's simple faith in the all- sufficiency of Christian 
love, was a sublime stimulus to the exhausted energies 
of prison investigators. They dropped their theories 
before her plain, practical Christianity; and, from having 
been ardent metaphysical disputants, they lapsed into 
admiring votaries of her spiritual creed. The hold which 
Mrs. Fry obtained over the public mind is very remark- 
able. She came in good time. It had been found out 
that there were barbarities in the prisons, unworthy of a 
Christian nation ; and the country was ripe for her reve- 
lation of their details. These were truly horrible. 
Nothing but desire to save souls, could possibly have sent 
any one into the loathsome places, in which prisoners 
were confined. It was the most revolting labour con- 
ceivable, to approach the wretched creatures in their 
dens, at the time that Mrs. Fry began her prison- visiting ; 
and it would have been useless to philosophize on the 
general prison scheme, while the subjects of it were 
perishing under its pressure. 



MRS. FRY. 19 

Mrs. Fry bent all her energies to the relief of the 
present distress. Her life and works give no note of 
time, nor thought, spent in devising systems of prison 
discipline, to prevent the recurrence of misery, 
such as that which awakened the national sympathy. 
Theoretically, the penal institution underwent no change 
through Mrs. Fry's agency. She not only left it as she 
found it, but she set up an action in the midst of it, 
on the non-interference principle, which has restrained 
thought on the subject, in a large circle of the best 
people. 

The religious public, from the days of Mrs. Fry until 
now, has maintained strict neutrality in the case of prisons. 
Those members of it who have persevered in the prison- 
visiting which she introduced, have been most systematic 
in their avoidance of the least comment on the execu- 
tive. They have acted on the plan of entire separation 
of objects and sentiments from those of the legislature; 
and they have carried on their work exclusively in con- 
nection with the Church. It has been as marked a 
severance, as if there had been no compatibility between 
the parties ; and it has had a most extraordinary amount 
of respect from the State, which has, in the most ample 



&0 THE SIXTH WORK. 

manner, guaranteed religious work free course, and 
protected it in every exercise of its power. 

Under this impartial rule, there can be no complaint that 
governmental interference marred its efficacy. There has 
been none. What evangelical labour proposed has never 
been hindered; and no impediment has arisen to its 
work, from the circumstances of the prisoners, for it has 
actually governed these. Prison regulations were framed 
to meet the views of the religious teacher^ ; and, in the 
day when every enactment that had been tried had failed, 
the authorities cheerfully accepted the help of the evan- 
gelical body, in the organization of religious habits, in the 
gaols of the kingdom. The whole country was unani- 
mous in this; and every prison in the land has, in 
its daily routine, evidences of the plans for Gospel 
influence, which were arranged under the auspices of 
Elizabeth Fry. 

Howard's purpose evidently was to act on the crimi- 
nals with a view to their becoming good and useful 
members of society ; and his work, which also manifested 
a regard for their eternal destiny, chiefly contemplated 
their life in this world. His God-fearing, honest efforts 
were devoted to the purifying of the penal administration, 



JOHN HOWARD. 21 

which he found in a very corrupt state; and they had some 
effect in the matter, although the success of his princi- 
ples, in regard to the repression of crime, were not 
secured. In fact, they were not understood. His great 
philanthropy, and the great physical improvements that 
he effected, were highly esteemed. Public indignation 
was excited by his exposure of prison interiors, and 
the executive underwent a good deal of salutary cleans- 
ing, in pursuance of his motion. 

An element of benevolence was introduced into this 
department of the legislature ; and ex-officio, honorary, 
members were added to the managers of prisons. Men 
qualified by social position, and personal character, 
were appointed to assist in carrying out discipline in the 
gaols. An unpaid agency arose, which largely supple- 
mented the State in this service ; and which may be con- 
sidered to have been the result of Howard's energy. 
Magistrates, clergymen, and others, freely devoted them- 
selves -to the work; but the projects of the great re- 
former concerning the prisoner were not appreciated by 
his generation; nor did the next perceive their drift. 
Some attention was given to prison discipline, but so 
little progress was made towards the diminution of 



22 THE SIXTH WORK. 

offenders, that the labourers in this cause were dis- 
heartened, and the case was left almost for lost. 

People had utterly failed to comprehend John 
Howard's remedial propositions, simply because they 
had a moral, as well as a spiritual aspect. Moral 
teaching was not recognised as a Christian element. 
The truly pious eschewed it, as beneath the elevated 
nature of their teaching ; and, outside their circle, there 
prevailed a great, and general, false impression regarding 
the value of moral effort. Howard should be better under- 
stood now, than he was in his lifetime ; the light, of 
which his theories were the dawn, is now shining 
round us. 

Elizabeth Pry's movement and his contrast ; and the 
difference between them is now, at length, clearly under- 
stood. Hers was a purely religious attempt; and, unlike 
Howard's, it encountered no obstacle, outside the prison 
walls. The criminal and the non-criminal were alike, to 
the views of those who contemplated only the spiritual 
condition of men, as susceptible of any improvement; 
and this was the doctrine of her day. "While she looked 
beyond the whole scheme of earthly existence, and 
serenely set her gaze on the heavenly life, the popular 



MOEAL EFFORT NEGLECTED. 23 

mind fully comprehended her idea. Her plan was 
instantly seized on ; for it corresponded with the whole 
course of popular religious instruction. Christianity was 
commonly held to have no concern with worldly things ; 
and to ignore preparation for them. 

Prisoners bound for eternity were easy to address ; and 
the interval of time, through which they should pass, 
before reaching the new state of existence, was not 
difficult to pass over mentally. The temporal conduct 
of those criminals, who would not pursue their spiritual 
concerns, was not deemed worth special direction; and 
their pious friends wrestled with them in eloquent ex- 
hortation, and for them in earnest prayer; but the 
effort to induce them to become moral, was not made 
the subject of Christian energy. 




CHAPTER II. 

Thirty years' Experience . . Plenty of Chaplains and Lay Teachers 
. . Great Religious Zeal . . Testimony of Witnesses . . Lincolnshire 
Tom . . Disappointment . . Re-convictions . . Imposition . . Conver- 
sions . . Despairing Tone . . Excessive Obduracy . . No Place of 
Repentance. .The Story of A. B. . .Consistency. .C. D.'s Case. . 
Her own account of her Conversion . . Sense of G-uilt . . Outside 
the Pale. 

Time has fully tested the effect on the general morality 
of the country of the prison- visiting, to which we have 
alluded in the foregoing chapter There has been thirty 
years' experience of it. A generation has been submitted 
to its action, in the most unreserved manner. Eor the last 
fifteen years, the principle has had the fairest possible trial 
in the Government prisons. It met the full approval of 
the late Sir Joshua Jebb; and he gave Mrs. Pry's scheme 
of prison- visiting every facility for being carried into effect. 
During the whole time that has elapsed since her mission, 
the county and borough gaols have also submitted their 



GREAT RELIGIOUS ZEAL. 25 

prisoners with perfect freedom, to those who endeavoured 
to carry out her views. Notwithstanding the provision 
of a full and efficient staff of chaplains, lay teachers have 
been invited, and have been supported in their efforts 
for the good of prisoners. There has been a great deal of 
prison-visiting in operation all over the country. Nearly 
every prison has its staff of voluntary agents for this 
work ; and much patient, earnest love for souls is mani- 
fested by those labourers, who, in conjunction with the 
regular prison ministry,* are worthy of the highest 
honour. 

It may be fairly calculated, that the criminal class of 
the country, as it flows through the prisons, has had the 
full benefit of all the service, which these good people can 
render. When the peculiarity of their work is duly 
considered, it must be felt that they give a great lesson 
in charity, which should not be lost to the Christian 
world. Their singular perseverance and indomitable zeal 
ought to be recorded in some form. This it would be 
very difficult to do ; but a few statements of facts about 



* The Gaol Chaplains' Act, of 1823, and the recent Prison 
Ministers' Act, provide most amply for the religions instruc- 
tion of prisoners of all denominations. 



26 THE SIXTH WORK. 

it may be found interesting and instructive. The result 
of inquiry diligently pursued, opportunities for personal 
observation eagerly made use of, and direct testimony 
freely given, is very discouraging. Taking all the reports 
into consideration, that can be gathered from all quarters, 
it is plain to be seen that there has been little gained 
beside disappointment. 

Spiritual conversions in prison are extremely rare. 
Chaplains and visitors unanimously state that they are 
few, so few as to warrant very little hope of even the 
best cases. Every witness asserts that imposition is the 
most noticeable feature of religious profession in prison. 
Protestations of penitence, tears, sighs, Scripture quota- 
tions, and promises of amendment are all peculiarly 
delusive. 

" One in twenty means well." 

" One in a hundred may be sincere in the desire to be 
saved." 

" Often, after the deepest apparent contrition, they 
are re-convicted soon after their discharge from prison/'' 

" The greatest possible expression of concern for the 
soul would not now induce me, without further evidence, 
to believe in the conversion of the speaker, I have 



TESTIMONY OE WITNESSES. 27 

so often seen it followed by increasingly gross crime. I 
must see thorough amendment of conduct before I can 
trust, and 1 am seldom gratified by the sight/'' These 
are the depositions of many witnesses. 

Almost without exception, every prison-visitor speaks 
of failure. Not one boasts of success. In male prisons 
there may be more perceptible effect than in the women's; 
but very little evidence of any considerable work has 
ever been offered in either case. There has been some ; 
and one of the most remarkable instances is to be found 
in last year's Report of the Directors of Convict Prisons, 
pages 132, 133, 134. We give the narrative, extracted 
from the Chaplain's Report : — 

One man of this Testing House party, Register 8,615, who 
has, since his conviction, distinguished himself by application 
to mental studies as well as to manual labour, some time ago 
spoke to me so thankfully of the blessing another prisoner of 
the same party had been to him, in relation to spiritual things, 
that I requested Register 5,851 to give me some account of 
the mariner and nature of what appears, indeed, the genuine 
conversion of a sinner to God. In reply, he said, " In Sep- 
tember last, I was employed at a grindstone with my poor fel- 
low-prisoner in grinding tools for cleaning anchors. A short 
opportunity was given, a few words were fervently and rapidly 
spoken by me, an unworthy recipient of free sovereign mercy, 
and the work was done. I was led by the Spirit of Christ to 



28 THE SIXTH WORK. 

speak of the exceeding riches of His grace to poor lost sinners, 
and of my own personal experience of the same, in all my 
troubles. While I was speaking, it pleased the Lord so to 
touch the heart of my poor companion in tribulation, that he 
could not refrain from tears ; feeling then, as he often now 
says, the heavy weight of his past sins, together with a strong 
sense of the attracting love of Christ, which led him to deplore, 
confess, and forsake his sins, and from thatvtime to give evi- 
dence to all around of a marked change in his life." 

The spirit and character of the subject of this conversion so 
distinguish him from others, of whom I could write most hope- 
fully, that I am induced to give some further account of him 
as related to me by another prisoner of the same party. 

" When convicted, Lincolnshire Tom was over 40 years of 
age. He could barely spell through a chapter of the New 
Testament. It is just within the province of truth to say he 
could write, but he knew nothing of arithmetic. The eldest, in 
the large family of alabourer, he had no early opportunities; and 
lengthened courses of intemperance, had prevented him from 
supplying a deficiency, which was felt as often as a division of 
the contract price, for work he had taken with a party of 
mates, had to be made. When, however, he got into Wakefield 
Prison he resolved to employ his solitude in self-improvement. 
With what assistance he could get, he attacked the humbler 
branches of learning, much in the same way as he would re- 
move a mound of earth, and bit by bit he removed the ob- 
structions, and stored up, in a workmanlike manner, what 
materials he required, or thought would be useful. Morning, 
noon, and night, all spare time was given to study. Whilst 
at exercise, the officers might observe his lips and face in- 



LINCOLNSHIRE TOM. 29 

voluntarily working, and think that he was fretting and mut- 
tering to himself. No. He was refreshing and entertaining 
himself by repeating ' sotto voce ' his multiplication table, 
tables of aliquot parts of pounds, shillings, and pence, of 
weights and measures, and such like. Since he has been at 
Portsmouth the same principles have guided him, the same 
industry has distinguished him. In addition to great improve- 
ment in reading and writing, he has gone through one manual 
of arithmetic, with a useful recollection of what he has learned, 
and is now progressing in another of a higher class ; he has 
made himself acquainted with the rudiments of land-surveying, 
and made such inroads on the mechanical studies and parts of 
music, that he hopes by-and-by to be useful to some clergyman 
of a village, as the leader of his choir. Better than all, I be- 
lieve that his heart is sanctified by the Holy Spirit, and that 
the same devotedness which distinguishes him in his daily 
labour, at which he stands the head of his party, will also mark 
his Christian course." 

The infirmary is visited daily by both Chaplain and Scrip- 
ture Reader for religious exercises. Last September, Register 
8,908 was a patient there for some time. It was the practice 
of this man to do in the infirmary wards, in the presence of 
others, as he did alone when in his cell : he kneeled at his 
bedside morning and evening in prayer to his God. One pri- 
soner in particular, Register 8,764, besought him to give some 
reason for thus provoking sarcasm and inviting ridicule. He 
thought a Christian man should have a strong as well as a good 
reason for a course of conduct, which might induce derision 
if not blasphemy. After some thought 8,908 gave his reason 
in the following lines : — 



30 THE SIXTH WORK. 

" Shall the rude Turk or ruder Arab kneel 
In crowded ship, bazaar, or thoroughfare, 
When loud the cries of shrill Muezzin peal 
Through Eastern climes, inviting all to prayer 
Who hold Mahomet's name in love and fear ; 
And I, who name a worthier, holier name, 
Shall I refuse the knee, and silence bear, 
Or think to cast on scoffing mates the blame 
Of stifled prayer, the Spirit grieved, and secret shame ? 

" No ! though I in the inner chamber find 
A fitter, calmer scene for exercise 
In prayer, I, in the chamber of the mind, 
May always hold converse with the all-wise, 
All-seeing God ! And they who truly prize 
The privilege, will with Him oft commune, 
Though scoffers gaze, and Satan fiercely tries 
To tempt, to dare, to drive, and importune 
To madly think, both place and time, inopportune. 

" Nor let me e'er refuse the bended knee 
At morn or eve. To me, give Daniel's frame 
Of mind, Lord ! A spirit bold, and free 
From fear of favourites, or of Monarch's blame ! 
Alike indifferent to disgrace or fame 
Derived from worldly men. And fearing more 
The NOT confessing Christ's most holy name 
Than ALL it can inflict, remove, present, restore ! 

" Whether it be in ward of hospital 
Or hold of convict-ship ; many or few 



DISAPPOINTMENT. 31 

The eyes that gaze in wonder ; some or all 

In scorn and unbelief ; though they dare strew 

The air with oaths, and taint the winds, that blow ) 

Them from the shore, with vice : still T will kneel, 

As I was wont before, though midst this crew ! 

And thank my God with undiminished zeal, 

For all the debt I owe, and all the love I feel." 

With regard to female prisoners, inquiry elicits 
desponding replies. One lady, a contemporary of Mrs. 
Try, who has steadily kept her ground, and wrought 
through the whole of those years under the most pain- 
ful discouragements, says : — 

" She thinks that she could point to a few real con- 
versions, but that the overwhelming majority of the 
women, with whom she comes in contact, remain un- 
affected, and become neither moral nor religious.'" 

This lady sees the criminals in various stages of their 
career, for she visits in several prisons, and she seems to 
have the least hope of those who have attained the last 
degree of penal treatment, and have become what are 
called "convicts/' These women have passed, probably, 
each one, numerous periods of incarceration in different 
places; and in all these they have been subjected 
to the same style of spiritual teaching, which meets 



3£ THE SIXTH WORK. 

them in their final stage. The despairing tone adopted 
by all who attempt this work is remarkable. Intercourse 
with prison-visitors convinces that it is almost a forlorn 
hope, undertaken without much expectation of seeing 
its success. But, in spite of this, they work on; they 
grope along in anxiety and weariness ; they are bewil- 
dered, deceived, and frustrated, still they work ! If the 
work were not of faith it would be of folly ; but it is of 
faith; and such faith is stronger than the principles 
of all the prison reformers that ever breathed. Their 
devices either stand or fall as the passing day decides ; 
but this faith has its foundation in eternity ; and it re- 
mains unshaken by experience, and unmoved against all 
contradiction. 

If we exaggerate the difficulty of spiritual work in 
prisons, we shall be thankful for correction. We invite 
comment on our statement that it is extraordinarily so ; 
and that a gaol conversion is a peculiar thing — to be 
spoken of with reservation and caution. The announce- 
ment of even a spark of hope, in any special case, 
is usually doled out slowly, and encumbered with 
apologies for the credulity which ventures on even the 
gentlest form of assertion. It would be highly desirable 



RECONVICTIONS. 33 

to prove that this is unnecessary; but, alas! facts are stub- 
born things; and these are so constantly arising to establish 
the case, that any attempt at denying them is useless. 
Stern officials contrast the terrible sheet of " re-convic- 
tions," with the most glowing expressions of hopeful 
feelings; and they hear of the deepest penitence with cool 
assurance of its evanescence. Then comes sad proof of 
their foresight; and sorer sense of cheatery. The 
culprit re-appears, again, and again, and again, and 
repeats the same hollow vows, sheds the same false 
tears, renews the role, and acts, and re-acts the 
farce. At length, no one is deceived; it is a phantas- 
magoria; people get accustomed to it, and look on, 
without even the sensation of wonder. No one believes 
that anything will ever come of these emotional manifes- 
tations, but the prison- visitors ; and though they do not 
pretend to explain the phenomena of their apparently 
fruitless service, they rest in the trust, that its utility will, 
one day, be made visible. 

As an instance of the excessive obduracy of criminal 
women, we may adduce the case of a woman now only 
in middle-age, who has been six-and-thirty times in 
prison, and who, in several of her imprisonments, mani- 



34 THE SIXTH WORK. 

fested signs of sorrow for sin. At times she was even 
vehement in her. remorse, and succeeded, during one of 
her incarcerations, in deceiving a most experienced visitor, 
to whom her return to crime has added another to a 
long list of disappointments. The number of impri- 
sonments suffered in this case is, unfortunately, not 
uncommon; and another example can be given, which 
has not the recommendation of novelty either, though 
it differs slightly from the foregoing. 

There is a woman now undergoing a long period of penal 
servitude, for the second time, who has passed nearly all her 
life in going in and out of gaols ; and who had begun the 
criminal career, when Mrs. Pry used to visit at Newgate. 
This convict frequently refers to the circumstances of 
those early days, when ladies first began to visit in the 
prisons ; and she gives a lively sketch of the effects of 
their work on various characters, from personal observa- 
tion. An aged prison-visitor was recognised by this 
culprit, as one of the earliest persons who had endea- 
voured to awaken a sense of sin in her heart; and in 
an interview that took place between them, the lady 
expressed no surprise at the history of hardness and 



NO PLACE OF REPENTANCE. 35 

guilt revealed to her, and the prisoner neither repentance 
nor shame. 

There is much that is painful and obscure in this sub- 
ject of prison work ; and those who decline to consider 
it in any way but as matter of faith, may well be 
pardoned. Unfortunately, however, it is a matter of 
practice too, and the practice forces itself on our atten- 
tion, whether we will or not. There must be something 
done for prisoners, which will affect their present life, 
and influence the whole state of the community. 
Doubtless it is delightful to contemplate the glorious 
future — the time to come— -when we shall know all that 
is now mystery ; when it shall be told us why the criminal 
who seems to seek a place of repentance, te carefully, 
and with tears," does not find it; and, so far as we 
can see, becomes daily worse, instead of better ; but the 
awful question, why all that is done for this class of sin- 
ners is so unavailing, presses on us now and here ; and 
must in some measure be answered. 

The individual cases in which spiritual renewal is 
certain, and is manifested in a total change of living and 
temper, are intensely interesting, in their personal aspect, 
but they raise no hope of improved general morals. One 



36 THE SIXTH WORK. 

of these is that of a woman whose story is not a 
little remarkable. She, and a few others, are well known 
to several besides the writer, and the circumstances of 
their cases can be authenticated. 

A. B.j a domestic servant, was convicted of robbing her 
master of plate. It was her second conviction. Her 
first crime had been sheep-stealing, and she had suffered 
an imprisonment of two years for it. The second sentence 
was, therefore, increased in severity. It was for fourteen 
years. During her first imprisonment, she had not. 
earned a good character ; and in the second, she was not, 
at first, well conducted. After a time, a great change 
was apparent in her : deep attention marked her manner 
in the Sunday-school class, and she showed much anxiety 
about her eternal interests. 

A lady who visited in the prison had many conversa- 
tions with her about spiritual things, and discovered 
that there was a real sense of sin in her heart. There 
was great sorrow, which became confirmed repentance. 
She gave full proof of the reality of this in her actions ; 
the officers of the prison were quite convinced of her 
sincerity ; and her life evidenced the truth of her profes- 



i 



THE STORY OF A. B. 37 

sions so clearly, that all who knew her became interested 
in her. She was a clever, intelligent woman, and made 
herself useful and obliging to the matrons; she won such 
favour, that intercession was made with the Government 
on her behalf; and a remission of seven years of her sentence 
was granted. This extraordinary mercy was obtained,* on 
the faith of the strong testimony borne respecting her. 
It was strictly inquired into ; and, in every particular, the 
statement of her improvement was confirmed. In a letter 
written by her to a lady visitor, she says : " Oh, that I 
did not value your kind visits in former times, and I 
should not have come to this end ; but I thank the Lord, 
that He checked me then, and turned me into the prison 
as a means of bringing me to Jesus, the Good Shepherd, 
who has said, c He that cometh to me, I will in no wise 
cast out/ M In another letter she alludes to her imprison- 
ment in similar terms : — 

" Thanks be to God, I am able to inform you, that I 
am growing happier every day and every night, trusting 
in Jesus as the Saviour of my soul, and above all things 
thankful for my imprisonment, because I was on the 
brink of everlasting woe. 5 ' 



38 THE SIXTH WOEK. 

After her release, she writes to the visitor again, and 
tells her of a situation in which she was placed, in these 
terms : — 

" It put me about to serve a strange Mrs. in a strange 
country, but, glory be to God, and to the Lamb for ever, 
that it was not a strange God that I had to serve, but 
that ever-living God that freed me from the cold cell and 
the fast locks of the prison : thanks be to God I had 
been in the prison, it was the means of bringing me back 
from the broad way that leads to destruction. You were 
the first, I will ever remember, to instruct me. I was 

very sorry not to see you when I was in ; I am now 

going to ; " and here she names her employer, 

then the rector of a country parish, and now the clean of 
a large diocese. She lived eleven years in his service' ; 
and then got an 'appointment in a public institution 
where her conduct and efficiency procured her one of 
the highest testimonials that could be penned. She has 
occupied positions of trust and importance during the 
last five years, with much credit ; and her friends are 
satisfied that she is a devout and earnest servant of God. 

Her consistency is a most valuable fact, for, at the time 
of her conversion, even those who most anxiously pressed 



39 

her case on the consideration of the Government, trembled 
lest time might prove her one of the many deceivers. 
Many more particulars could be given of her history, but 
that it would give her pain to be brought before public 
notice. She expresses a strong and natural dislike, that 
it should be known to strangers that she has been in 
prison ; but to those who are acquainted with the cir- 
cumstances of her career, she has no objection to mention 
the providences and loving-kindnesses that fell to her lot 
during the time of her degradation. Gratitude for these 
to her heavenly Father, and to the friends raised up for 
her, is her striking characteristic. As an instance of it, we 
may record, that she lately expressed great anxiety to see 
a lady, who had once called to see her in prison, many years 
ago, and gave her a little book, of which she says s " I 
have it yet, and it is called ' The Mind of Jesus.' " 

C. D., another prisoner, is as remarkable an instance a 
A. B., of the singular effect occasionally granted to a few 
words spoken in faith, in a prison. She was led into sin at 
thirteen years of age, by the son of the master of the parish 
school at which she attended. Up to her twentieth year, 
she was a very wicked girl, living with the worst asso- 
ciates. About this time, she and another girl went into an 



40 THE SIXTH WORK. 

officer's quarters, in Barracks, and stole jewellery 

and money. They were taken up for the robbery, on the 
clearest evidence; both denied their guilt, C. D. in the 
most violent manner. One day, soon after they were 
sent to prison, C. D/s companion was detected swallow- 
ing paper ; and, on being given an emetic, she threw up 
three five-pound notes, which were identified as those 
lost by the officer. On hearing this, C. D. renewed her 
protestations of innocence, and swore again, and again, in 
the most solemn manner, that she knew nothing about 
the matter ; and she excited herself into the most violent 
fury against her accusers. 

The rage of the class of women to which she belonged, 
is a most awful sight ; and she gave as bad an exhibi- 
tion of it as the most experienced prison officer ever saw. 
On the Sunday following this scene, the lady visitor, 
who knew nothing whatever of the occurrence we have 
detailed, addressed a group, of which C. D. was one, 
on the words, " Be sure your sin will find you out." 

There was no evidence that any of her hearers were 
particularly affected by the teaching. In the course of the 
week, how r ever, this lady received a message from the 
prison requesting her to visit C. D., whose state was most 



HER OWN ACCOUNT OF HER CONVERSION. 41 

distressing. She had changed from her former wicked- 
ness and hardness, into a condition of terrible affliction for 
her crime ; and had confessed the whole affair. She had 
delivered the rest of the missing money to the matron ; 
and was in inconsolable sorrow. The visitor saw her 
daily; and sat for hours listening to her misery and 
remorse, repeating to her God's promises, and offers of 
mercy. A whole month passed before she had any sense 
of pardon. It came at last ; and the calm and peace of 
her mind was followed by a complete reformation in her 
temper and habits. She has fulfilled her sentence credi- 
tably ; and is now in respectable employment. A letter 
which was received from her is highly characteristic of 
her excitable disposition ; and gives an account of her 
conversion in her own words : — 

" My Dear . — This is from a hell deserving sin- 
ner, rescued by the out- stretched arms of Jesus my 
Saviour, the sinners friend and guide. Oh, the Saviour to 
me is more than I can tell : His mercy to me is so great 
that I wonder that I am on the land of the living, it is 
amazing to me, a sinner destined to hell, doomed for ever 
and ever to the devil. I was a faithful servant, I served 
twenty-two years and three months, I delited in his 



42 THE SIXTH WOEK. 

ways and works. I walked with him, and talked with 
him, and he deceived and blinded me so far, that I 
thought him the god of my soul, yes, he was my god and 
friend in this world. I don't think I can say anything 
else, for you know that when the Saviour's word was 
spoke to me, I refused to listen to it, nor could I hear 
the Saviour's voice when the enemy of my soul was 
holden me firm, so as I should not leave him, until the 
Saviour Jesus cast a look of pity on me, he saw me on 
the verge of hell, he new that into it I should go, it was 
then that the battle commenced for me, the devil fought 
hard for me, but my Saviour fought still harder, con- 
shinse did alarm me, all hopes failed me, hell was my 
doom, I new no other place for me. I did not know- 
that my Saviour was so near me. Ah, He strove 
with the devil for me, He nocked hard at the door of 
my hart, he awakened me from the sleep of death, to see 
my sins and to acknowledge my guilt, witch freed me 
from the due rewards of my guilt on earth and the 
punishment I should undergo, but when the Saviour of 
my soul drew me to the foot of the cross, I beheld his 
love and felt his grace, he freed me here, and for ever. 



LETTER CONTINUED. 43 

That precious warning of Jesus that you over and over 
told me of, ' be sure your sins will find you out/ it did 
by God's mercy find me, and brought me to that loving 
Jesus, the shepherd of my soul to live, to love, and with 

him die. My dear , it is now that I can thank 

my Saviour for providing sutch a friend as you to 
speek to me of that loving Saviour ; his words by you to 
me, where as bread cast on the waters, they are found, 
and precious are they to me; they are The goys and 
the comfort of my life, they are my sleeping peace, and 
wakeing goys of the morning of life, they sustain me 
trough the days and lighten me trough the night. Oh 
the 30 of Juley, the words of the earthly King 
david, When he was in distress for the remision of his 
sins, and the sanctification of hart, the Lord his Saviour 
had mercy on him, with him I praid for forgiveness, I 
took the same words that he did, the first and the 9, 10, 
11th verses of the 51. psalms, have mercy on me, Oh 
God blot out my trangressions for thy great mercys sake, 
oh God. I have to thank the Lord and you this night, 
rember me to the Lord in your prayers. 1 cant say 
no more for the present, but the God of my salvation 



44 THE SIXTH WORK. 

help and strengten you to bring more to the knoledge of 
the Saviour Jesus Christ to him be glory for ever more, 
amen. 

only Jesus, only Jesus, 

for this my Saviour, he has shed his blood for the, 
long by sin a captive taken. 

Jesus love has set the free 

only Jesus can thy great redeemer bee 

from a sinner saved by grace." * 

These cases are only offered as average samples of 
prison conversions. Others might be given, but they 
are all very similar; and these serve to illustrate 
the fact, that, though rare, they are not impossibilities. 
They generally manifest the peculiarities of the class in 
which they occur, and exhibit the excessively demon- 
strative dispositions common to criminals. In connec- 
tion with their extraordinary amount of protestation and 
profession, it is well to remember the words of the 
Lord : " Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are 
many, are forgiven ; for she loved much : but to whom 
little is forgiven, the same loveth little." A few of these 

* These extracts are printed from the original letters with- 
out alteration. 



OUTSIDE THE PALE. 45 

instances, occasionally occur, to cheer the weary spirit of 
the labourers ; and small as the number is, it is a Divine 
recognition of the work which warrants perseverance in it. 
No doubt it does the will of the Sovereign Lord 01 
souls, but it certainly fails to accomplish the moral 
purpose of the "powers that be." This system of prison- 
visiting exercises no influence on the general suppression 
of crime ; it is not calculated to do so. While it gathers 
out a handful of brands from the burning, the great 
mass is left to disgrace the land, offending God and 
man. To the sorrowful, depressed, and tried spirit of 
the prison- visitor, this seems to be a sad necessity. Is 
there really no help, no hope, for the case ? Is sub- 
mission to the deplorable circumstance the only resource ? 
Is there no suggestion in the minds of thoughtful 
Christians, who interest themselves in prisoners, for the 
relief of the miserable crowd, the unregenerate multi- 
tude? The state of those who are not touched by 
the Holy Spirit is surely not beyond their province ; 
they must not leave it outside the pale of Christian 
work, nor must they consider those who endeavour to 
induce criminals to become moral, as workers of a differ- 
ent order from themselves. There can be no line drawn 



46 THE SIXTH WORK. 

between these and the spiritual labourers, on this 
ground. Such separation into sections is not consistent 
with the indivisible nature of Christian work. It would 
curtail its field of action in a most unchristian manner ; 
and narrow the sympathy of that charity, which should 
know no bound. The principle on which some spiritu- 
ally-minded Christians decline to endeavour to excite 
moral feelings; and refuse to make an effort to encourage 
outward conformity to a common standard of right, 
while the heart is unconverted, leaves much work un- 
done. There is some ignorance and prejudice about 
this matter, which retard the progress of true Christian 
work. A little consideration of the subject may 
conduce to more intelligent action; and promote the 
cause of religion, as well as advance temporal social 
interests. 




CHAPTER III. 

%\t Cfrwxfc a Maxnl Moth. 

The Service of Christ . . Tabular Statement of Christian Social 
Duty . . Classification of Work and "Workers . . Unconsciousness . . 
Thoroughness of Action . . Six Forms of Service . . Eepresentative 
Terms . . The Gospel Poor-Law . . The Order of Divine Providence 
..Bodily Wants — Moral Trial.. God's Time to Deprive.. The 
First Three Deeds. . .Morality Impossible to Counterfeit.. 
The Value of the Schedule. .The Accuracy of Christ's Summary 
. . Vague Distribution . . Love's Labour Lost . . " Good Work " and 
" Bad Work" . . Private Christian Sentiment made Public Duty . . 
State Provision for the Poor . . Pauperdom . . Almsgiving . . Inter- 
changing Classes . . Degeneration . . None Excluded . . Figurative 
Language. .Bishop Eidley's Letter. .Eesisted Work. 

The service of Christ cannot be limited to the work of 
promoting spiritual conversion. He has not so restricted 
it. In the catalogue which He has given us of the acts 
that He will hereafter recognise as services rendered to 
Him, by His true followers, it is remarkable that there is 
no mention made of evangelical work. When He 
addresses the collected body of His professing people, in 
the judgment of Christendom, He omits specific notice of 
the labours of the ministry ; and He only adjudicates on 
the case of ordinary charitable duty. He divides this 



48 THE SIXTH WORK. 

duty into six parts; and every part of it directly 
refers to earthly life. The list, as it stands, in 
Matthew's Gospel, chapter xxv., from the 34th to the 
46th verse, may be condensed, and arranged in the fol- 
lowing order : — 

No. 1. 

" FEEDING THE HUNGRY." 

No. 2. 
:ng the 

No. 3. 

NG THE 

No. 4. 

TG THE 

No. 5. 

TING TH 

No. 6. 
the p: 

We shall greatly mistake Christ's meaning, and the 
value of His suggestions, if we contract the sense of the 
whole of this into efforts to work onlj for those, who have 
spiritual life. There are several points in this lesson given 



CLASSIFICATION OF WORK AND WORKERS. 49 

by Our Lord, that it will be of great utility to study. 
It is in fact a tabular statement of Christian social duty. 
It is very concise, and strangely minute. There is great 
significance in Christ' s classification, of the works and 
the workers, in the scene to which we refer. Some 
workers are represented by Him as ineffective, though 
not inactive. These are the mere nominal Christians, 
who, without true regard for Him as the Saviour, do 
acts of kindness on the ground of human affection. He 
speaks of others as effective; and they are His true 
followers — the " sheep " — who hear His voice, and who 
through love to Him, labour for the world, for which He 
died. Both these classes of persons are said to be un- 
conscious of the extent of their operations. 

This unconsciousness is a sublime doctrine. It has, 
a most gracious bearing on the case ; and forms a ground- 
work for Christian unity and co-operation, of the 
most extensive kind. Jesus actually ordains this 
condition, that we may not encumber our minds, 
with the effort to ascertain, here and now, how much of 
our own, or of other people's labour, is fully and truly 
useful to Him, This will be revealed only at the end 
of the age ; and we may, therefore, work on confidingly, 



50 THE SIXTH WORK. 

leaving results to be revealed by Him to whom the 
service is rendered. This very unconsciousness ought 
to excite a thoroughness of action; and the greatest 
exertion tu perform perfectly the duties required of us. 
The right understanding of these duties is, therefore, 
of the utmost importance ; and our Saviour's subdivision 
is in itself expository of them. The operations that rank 
themselves under the heads given in our Lord's catalogue, 
are familiar to us all. We know them as work, which, in 
all its phases, both of individual and collective action, 
is continually being done. In treating of it as six 
separate proceedings, it is not represented to be the six 
deeds of one person, nor those of six different persons, 
but six recognised forms of service, in which Christians 
engage. 

Considerably varied in degree, some of these are 
largely undertaken, while others are but slightly entered 
on. The first three have properly had great energy applied 
to them. They relate to the case of the poor ; and, as 
such, claim primary attention. The sick, the stranger, 
and the prisoner, are few in comparison with those whose 
condition of poverty absorbs the general sympathy. 
Christ places them first on His list of sufferers; and 



REPRESENTATIVE TERMS. 51 

allots to them cumulative deeds of service. Th 
thoroughness of the provision thus required for the 
poor is remarkable. Charitable action, according to the 
law of Christ, is no light work. The Saviour details 
minutely in what it should consist. He did not name 
the three items in vain : — meat, drink, and clothing. 
They are representative terms. They stand for the 
material things, which suit the state of the suffering 
individuals, according to their respective requirements; 
and are to be supplied them in measure corresponding 
to the circumstances of the society of which they form 
part. The share of the poor is to be matter of equitable 
calculation. A proportion of the goods of the com- 
munity falls to them; and is to be administered on 
such a system as to benefit them, morally as well as 
materially. The charitable action that undertakes to 
perform the law of Christ for the poor, devolves on the 
rich. The poor have their duties under other enact- 
ments of the service ; they are necessarily excluded from 
[the first three deeds; and are, under them, the passive 
[objects of the covenant of Christian work. 

The provision for poverty requires something more 
Ifrorn the rich than the surrender of substance. It de- 



52 THE SIXTH WOEK. 

mands thought and time. The intelligence which their 
position enables them to cultivate, and the time that their 
freedom from anxiety and care about their own wants 
affords them, they are called on to'bestow; and when the 
aggregate of these is considered, and the number of poor 
to be administered to, in our community, is calculated, it 
will be seen, that the labour claimed at this period of 
Christian time, by our Lord from His people, is important. 
To perform it completely, there should be a force in ac- 
tion, consisting of all the available powers that can be 
assembled, in tins age of great capability. There is a 
grand principle involved in this Gospel Poor-law. Its 
provisions enforce that the present poor are to be removed 
out of present poverty. The labour of other members of 
the community is to be devoted to this end ; and it is to 
be done as the first step of Christian work. This pro- 
ceeding does not purport the banishment of poverty, nor 
supersede its presence. There is no contradiction of the 
declaration, " the poor ye have always with you," con- 
veyed by the act dictated. Notwithstanding its efforts, 
the poor shall never fail out of the land. The ranks of 
the pauper will still be continually recruited by the 
accidents of human life. The providence that rules over 



BODILY WANTS MORAL TRIAL. 53 

all Divine arrangements forbids such a prospect as the 
extinction of poverty to exist ; and it is its province, not 
ours, to secure the perpetuation of this order of affairs. 
Its course will, in the natural progress of events, ever 
cause, that fresh cases shall fill the places of those that 
are, by our instrumentality, raised from the low estate 
of physical privation. 

Jesus implies much by His urgency in this particular 
instance. He acknowledges the moral trial of bodily 
wants ; and He accords to it His sacred pity. It is the 
spirit of His law to remove whatever is unfavourable to 
man, and inimical to his interests, temporal and spiritual. 
With what true sympathy Christ protects those interests ! 
He will not have the moral strength tested through 
bodily pain and privation. His directions are that meat, 
drink, and clothing, are to be given to the poor, lest he 
steal, break the restraint imposed on his natural con- 
science, and impoverish others. Physical suffering is for- 
bidden by the Saviour as a means of preventing moral in- 
jury. He never instituted it for the suppression of crime. 
God's rule of action is not the infliction of bodily pain for 
the promotion of spiritual purity. The reverse is His 
course of treatment. The sun shines on the evil and on the 



54 THE SIXTH WOKK. 

good to demonstrate this. Nothing bnt sinless humanity 
could sinlessly endure the loss of all earthly comforts : 
hence, none but Christ could suffer all the trials of the 
flesh, and issue pure from the ordeal. ■ 

In the final state, when " he that is unjust shall be unjust 
still, and he that is filthy shall be filthy still," it will be 
God's time to deprive, unclothe, leave thirst unslaked, 
and desire unsupplied ; but, in this present age, " He wills 
not the death of a sinner,''' nor the perpetuation of his 
vileness, nor the continuation of his misery ; and, there- 
fore, He wills not the poverty of the poor. He wills 
that the necessities of a man — his primary needs — those 
things that support his bodily life, should be supplied 
Jiim, not only for the purpose of sparing physical pain, 
but for the prevention of moral failure. Christians do 
not sufficiently study this latter object, in their effort 
to compass the former. The impulse to relieve mere 
physical distress is so strong and absorbing, that the 
second, and more important part of the design, is often 
lost sight of. 

The consequence of this superficial attention to the 
claim of the poor, increases the difficulties of Christian 



THE FIRST THEEE DEEDS. 55 

labour greatly; and frequently causes each work to 
necessitate further acts of ministration. 

On the thorough performance of the first three deeds 
of the Saviour's catalogue, depends the whole of 
the rest of the service. When the separate actions 
are not perfectly done, each deed becomes only an 
introduction to the next. Labour improperly done for 
the poor, or left undone, entails fresh operations; 
and, at every step, the work increases in difficulty. It 
seems, at first sight, easy enough to grant to them all 
that they ask. Their appeal appears to be a simple 
call for meat, clothing, and shelter ; and the rich do 
not refuse to supply them. 

If the mere act of giving fulfilled the claim of the 
poor, it would be done successfully ; but the work is 
not accomplished by the transference of materials from 
one class to the other. The need of the case is to be 
met with greater accuracy than this. The work is, pri- 
marily, entirely physical in its nature ; but it becomes 
moral by association. The spiritual aspect of it is no 
present concern of the workers. With regard to it the 
law of unconsciousness prevails. The actor has no right 



56 THE SIXTH W ORK. 

to any knowledge, beyond that which uprightness of con- 
duct reveals, about the absolute connection between Christ 
and the subject of his deed. His work is an act of faith; 
and he that doubts that it will be accepted hereafter, as 
done to Jesus, doubts not only the sinner, but the 
Saviour. 

It is very important to note this view of the case. 
Faith is the substance of Christian work; "and whatso- 
ever is not of faith is sin.'" Ordinary Christian work is 
physical, that it may be moral. It need not necessarily be 
religious. The mixture of spiritual with bodily minis- 
tration is not forbidden in Scripture, but it is not en- 
joined. It is with regard to this, that our Lord dis- 
tinctly lays down unconsciousness as the rule of the 
service. He does not connect the power of His Spirit 
with the relief of the flesh; He chooses that it shall 
manifest itself independently ; and that there shall be no 
temptation to simulate its effects. Pretence to spiritual 
life is easily put forth; morality it is impossible to 
counterfeit; and morality is one of the outward and 
visible signs of Christ's kingdom, on which His people are 
warranted to insist. As to the higher life of its subjects, 
no man's claim or interest therein should influence his 



THE VALUE OF THE SCHEDULE. 57 

neighbour's charity. The righteous are to speak the ' 
truth in the day that they exclaim, '" Lord, when saw we 
Thee an hungred, and fed Thee? or thirsty, and gave 
Thee drink? When saw we Thee a stranger, and took 
Thee in ? or naked, and clothed Thee ? Or when saw 
we Thee sick, or in prison, and came unto Thee ? " 

The donation of a certain portion of our property to 
the poor, is only the surface of charity — " a sounding 
brass and a tinkling cymbal," if its work do not directly 
tend to the furtherance of the Heavenly kingdom, even 
though it may fulfil every item in the schedule, 
which Christ has laid before His Church. The value of 
this document is enormous. It constitutes an indictment* 
under which Jesus can formally arraign His people, in a 
future day, and by which each can test the course of his 
present life-work for his Saviour. 

The intentions of the benevolent who occupy them- 
selves with Christian acts may be good and true, 
but their deeds may not promote the progress of 
Christianity; and, only, in so far as they do so, 
will their service be recounted by Christ in His 
future summary. He will be accurate in this matter. 
His statement of work will be in accordance with what 



58 THE SIXTH WORK. 

has actually been achieved. About that which has been 
aimed at, but not done, He will say nothing ; it enters 
nowhere into His calculation. He registers no failures ; 
and this, which is the comfort and blessing of the Chris- 
tian, is his greatest stimulus to exertion. 

Our Lord does not estimate the amount of property dis- 
pensed for Him, nor the quantity retained for personal 
gratification. He simply requires that, with little or much, 
the work shall be clone — more men made to acknow- 
ledge His law, and His law made more honourable. 
It is entirely a question of produce. No matter what 
amount of his substance a man uses for Christian work, 
if he employ nine-tenths of it, or only one-tenth, the 
examination will not search farther than the result 
exhibited — the evil he has suppressed, and the good he 
has encouraged. If this were not so, how would the 
rich shine forth in the judgment, and, by their wealth, 
obtain distinguished portions in the kingdom of their 
Father ! It is very possible to give much, and yet do 
little. Great expenditure of money, even with the right 
desire, does not always accomplish the right end. Indis- 
criminate benevolence commits great waste. There is a 
lavish liberality common, for which there is nothing, 



VAGUE DISTRIBUTION. 59 

comparatively, to show. In this day, " Give, give/ - ' saith 
the preacher; and congregations freely respond ; but it 
is often " the blind leading the blind ; "■ for the teacher 
and the taught take little heed to the outlay, so as to 
make it really profitable to the cause of God ; and truly 
extend and support the kingdom of Christ. A cup of cold 
water put to a neighbour's lips in the hour of his thirst, 
may be more effective in this respect than the distribu- 
tion of large sums of money. 

Charity is generally powerful in proportion as it is 
direct and personal. It consists not in vague distribu- 
tion for " the love of God/' but in precise economy for 
the use of man. Many a man gives from his heart, and 
the gift may reach the poor, and pass through his pocket; 
it may bear temporal fruit ; the receiver may be bodily 
enriched by it; but it may also impoverish his spirit. 
No Christian service may be done by the act. It may 
have banished no evil, but, on the contrary, induced 
offence. There may have occurred, with the material 
increase it occasioned, a moral declension. A pauper 
spirit may have grown out of it ; and a grace, hitherto 
flourishing, may have been caused to wither. Wants 
may have been created by a superfluity granted. The 



60 THE SIXTH WORK. 

remedy may have been worse than the disease ; and the 
harm may, perhaps, overpower the benefit of the trans- 
action. Mental effort must supplement the desire to do 
good; and charity must be applied under the direction of 
enlightened Christian intellect. 

It is necessary to comprehend what is required to be 
done before work can be undertaken. Individuals have no 
right to move in compliance with their hearts' emotions, 
unless it is clear to their understanding that there is some 
utility in the proceeding ; and it is as important a duty 
as any laid on the followers of Jesus, to cultivate the 
power, and the habit, of using their understanding in His 
service. Eor lack of this, a great part of the work 
intended for Him operates the other way, and becomes 
" love's labour lost/' 

The attempts of individual Christians to render duty 
to the Saviour, are, probably, less subject to this fate, 
than the efforts of those engines that are so largely in 
use at this time — societies and associations, &c. In 
them, it too frequently happens, that persons agglo- 
merate their wishes, and their purses, and omit their 
brains. It is true that immense difficulty attends 
human combinations, but this difficulty is surmounted 



" GOOD WORK/' AND " BAD WORK." 61 

in labours that contemplate worldly things; and charitable 
action, which is connected with earthly materials, can 
be as easily controlled. Men enter into the merest 
fraction of the details in which their temporal interests 
are implicated. They descend to calculate the minutest 
item, and criticise the merest atoms that belong to their 
mercantile works; and they administer with sheer 
economy, and acute adaptability, the different integral 
portions of them, so that no wasteful or useless move- 
ment is permitted. This is what they call "good work" 
in their temporal affairs; and, yet, the very same men 
do " bad work," in the matter in which eternal benefits 
are at stake ! 

In this day, Christian work should be done, not 
only with Christian hearts and hands, but by Christian 
heads. If they were brought to bear on it, in any degree 
proportionate to the labour they do for objects, not, per- 
haps, in any way unchristian, but probably ex-christian, in 
the sense of direct personal service to Christ, this period 
of the history of Christendom, would present a bright 
array of claimants for heavenly commendation. 

There is little sign of the intellectual culture of the 
age in the public management of our poor. Our laws 



6£ THE SIXTH WORK. 

for the relief of the destitute, do not keep pace with 
the mental power exhibited in our institutions for other 
purposes ; and while they are imperfect, the action to be 
undertaken for the classes next in order beyond them, 
cannot be performed with any prospect of success. 

The fact that our poor relief is done according to a legal 
form does not deprive it of its charitable character. The 
institution of the Poor Law is on this very foundation ; 
and its origin is interesting as forming the crisis, in 
which private Christian sentiment was first enforced, as 
public duty."* 

It happened, that, in the reaction with regard to 
clerical authority, which set in after the Reformation, 
popular disobedience to the voice of the Church rose to 
such a height, that, on the subject of almsgiving, the 
ecclesiastics could get no attention whatever from their 

* So early as 1530 (prior to the interference of the secular 
authority in the matter in England), at Ypres, in Belgium, 
the magistrates assumed the control of the donations for the 
poor. Before this no Government action in the case of the 
poor is on record, but it may he inferred to have formed a 
part of the Grecian legislation : Oration of Lycias, B. i., 343 : 
and of the Roman, also, from the Lex Frumentaria of the 
younger Gracchus. 



STATE PROVISION FOR THE POOR. 63 

flocks. In the reign of Queen Elizabeth, the bishops 
and priests appealed to the secular arm for force to 
compel the rich to give ' doles to the poor ; and a law 
was passed to enable them to bring defaulters to justice, 
thus leading the way for the English Poor Law, which 
has since set the grand example to the other nations 
of the earth, of State provision for the poor. 

Up to this period, it had been the practice of all 
Christendom to leave the poor to the care of the Church ; 
and the principle on which this was done, is, probably, 
the root of the evil condition in which we find them at 
this day. Their relief was made a religious exercise; 
and spiritual interests were complicated with it. The 
false doctrine of works prevailed, Eomish teaching 
made benevolence pious selfishnesss ; and caused it to 
assume a wrong aspect both to donor and recipient. The 
poor man was a treasure to the rich, whose cc key to 
Heaven/'' and " path to Paradise," he was likely to be- 
come ; and he learned to prize the privileges of his 
position. Through supplying his wants great things 
were to be gained; and he was, consequently, self- 
important and self-indulgent. There grew up in the 
country, franked by the temper of the day, a lazy, idle 



64 THE SIXTH WORK. 

class, which depended on the gifts of the wealthy ; and this 
formed the foundation of a pauperdom, which lies outside 
the circle of our lower working people; and barely screens 
them from the criminal mass, in which our civilization 
loses itself. 

The old error concerning almsgiving was a beautiful 
one. The fervour of its godliness shines through its 
ignorance, and throws a sanctity, which we dare not dis- 
respect, over the tombs of our ancestors. Their deeds 
of charity were lovely. We have them monumented in 
marble, and graven in brass, storied on church walls, 
and recorded in the archives of the nation. Honoured 
generations gone down to dust, who made their Christian 
work perpetual by endowments for its maintenance, " all 
died in faith " that their good purpose wrought the will of 
their Lord. But the acts that " followed them " are few, 
and small ; and much still remains to be done, of which 
their philosophy dreamed not. Notwithstanding our in- 
creased knowledge, we have, as yet, performed little better 
service. The secular Government, which now undertakes 
the charge of the poor, has had no great success ; and the 
effect of individual action is imperceptible in the case of 
tint pauperism, which is a fixed blot on our social system. 



INTERCHANGING CLASSES. 65 

Distinct from the casual poor, those who by age, and 
by the accidents of life, become unable to support them- 
selves, there exists a body of people of invariable cha- 
racter, which we may call the unindustrious destitute. 
Numerically this class is not given to change ; and con- 
stitutionally it alters not at all. The annual statement 
of the numbers relieved by the Poor Law has varied very 
slightly for the last fifteen years ; * and the criminal class, 
with which alone this interchanges, has been similarly 
stationary. It is remarkable, that in both these social 
divisions, the numbers do not pass out into other sections 
of the community. They are singularly adhesive to their 
type, and curiously consolidated together. Families re- 
tain special characters and habits in both of these, in spite 
of all efforts to induce them to alter their ways of living, 
.and to assume different places in society. That this 
is the fact with regard to paupers, was attested before the 
Poor Law Commissioners some years ago. There 
has been no difference in their circumstances since 
then; and the same is stated of criminals on the best 



Paupers under Poor Law care in 1 850 920,543. 

Ditto . . « 1865 .... 972,700. 

F 



66 THE SIXTH WORK. 

authority.* In this age of progress, there has been 
no progress in these cases. We have gone forward 
in other respects; in this we have stood still. 
Physical supplies are largely administered to the poor ; 
and spiritual teaching is given them, with earnestness 
and diligence ; but both fail to produce the desired moral 
results. The pauper readily becomes the criminal. Pri- 
vation does not chasten his spirit, nor quicken his moral 
sense, while it tends to the increase instead of the diminu- 
tion of his race. 



* " We have three generations of paupers," etc. — Evidence 
before Poor Law Commissioners, p. 204. 

The Inspector of Prisons, N. District, in his Report for 
the year 1864, page 190, makes the following statement about 
a criminal family : — 

" The father has been 3 times in prison. 

" The mother „ 5 „ „ 

" A third brother 4 „ „ and 3 years in a 

Reformatory school. 

" A sister 1 „ „ and 5 years in a 

Reformatory school. 

" Different members of the mother's family, 10 times in 
prison, with 13 years at Reformatory schools ; making in this 
one family the aggregate numbers of 25 times in prison, 31 
years in Reformatory schools." % 



DEGENERATION. 67 

Thus far our Christian work, as it regards the primary 
object of our Lord's solicitude, has not accomplished 
much. The agencies that we have employed, for the 
material benefit of the poor, have not been satisfactory. 
Our failure has even gone farther in its effects, and has 
produced a state of physical disease, which has increased 
the difficulty of our moral work. Bodily malformation, 
mental deterioration, and moral degradation, add stage 
after stage to our troubles. When improved scientific 
knowledge shall have enabled us to alter our system with 
regard to the sick, the labour bestowed on the fifth work 
may lighten that of the others. As the matter now stands, 
the poor become the sick, and the sick degenerate into 
the immoral, and vice versa. 

It is easy to understand how this may happen. The 
inquiries of every day throw light on this subject ; all 
recent investigation developes the need of attention, to 
the minute particulars of the cases, that appeal to us as 
the poor and the sick. Applications intended for their 
benefit may, if not suitable to their condition, only 
change the phase of their suffering; and move them 
from one class to another, of those which form the subject 
of Christian work. The workers may well be circum- 



68 THE SIXTH WOEK. 

spect in their movements, lest they accumulate their 
labours. Their performance of the first three acts 
of their service, may give rise to the fifth, and increase 
its difficulties. Their treatment of the sick is liable to 
add members to the prison classes ; and thus become, 
indirectly, the means of promoting immorality. We have 
been long unconsciously doing this ; and have been 
creating the material on which we are called to work, 
in the sixth degree of our service. 

Our Lord, foreseeing that the consequence of failure 
in attending to the poor and the sick would be the 
maintenance of crime, emphatically bespeaks our charity 
for the prisoner. The fact that He makes a special 
point of this case is very remarkable. It is definite 
as to the nature of the work which He requires; 
and it sets at rest all questions, as to the character 
of the persons for whom the labour is to be done. They 
may be sinful, as well as poor, and sick. Ungodliness, 
instead of disqualifying for the action of Christian bene- 
volence, forms a claim for it ; this is the only meaning 
that can be given to the Saviour's list of appeals. Those 
who freely grant to the first five divisions of the work 
an open signification; and who are willing to believe 



NONE EXCLUDED. 69 

that the unconverted poor, and the unconverted sick, may 
be the subjects of their work, often deny that the criminal 
has a similar privilege. They restrict the words of Christ, 
to those who unjustly suffer imprisonment; and only 
in pursuit of ' ' the ninety-ninth sheep," or " the lost piece 
of silver/'' would venture in among the criminals. But 
Christ is not alluding to the duty of seeking and saving 
in His account. He entirely confines His remarks to 
other works of charity ; and in the institution of uncon- 
sciousness, prevents the exclusion of any. The whole 
force of the argument goes either one way or the other. 
Jesus authorizes selection in all cases, or He forbids it. 

We believe that He identifies Himself with all the 
hungry, all the thirsty., all the naked, all the strangers, 
all the sick, and even with all the prisoners. Practi- 
cally, no one thinks of separating the Saviour from any 
of these but the last ; and all concur in seeing Christ 
represented in every form that human suffering takes. 

His oneness with His true members, the converted, 
spiritually renewed Church, is a special and peculiar con- 
nection, about which there is no unconsciousness, but 
which is manifested and known in the intercourse of be- 
lievers with each other. In this character, as singularly 



70 THE SIXTH WORK. 

united by a particular bond, they are bound to treat each 
other in a manner quite different from the exercise of 
charity towards all men, to which the judgment described 
by Matthew refers. The "goat" as well as the " sheep - " are 
challenged, in the acts concerning which Jesus inquires ; 
and when both of these are made answerable for the 
performance, it cannot be confined to work done for the 
known brethren. Some of these may be found among 
the poor, the sick, the strangers, and the prisoner ; * and 
when they are, they call forth a closer interest, and 
a warmer sympathy ; but the power of Christian charity 
is not to be spent in separating out these individual 
eases from the mass. The Lord Himself arranges this, 
as His people move onward, according to His direction; 
and He will, in due time, make known to them how, 
and when, they have " entertained angels unawares:" 

When parables and figures of speech were our general 
form of utterance, feelings were stronger, and percep- 
tion clearer of the substitutionary nature of the Saviour's 
office, in connection with the every -day proceedings of 
human society. A beautiful instance of this is to be 
seen in a letter of Bishop Ridley's to Mr. Cecil, on 
the subject of the London poor; and we cannot forbear 



bishop Ridley's lettee. 71 

inserting it, as a lesson in divinity and charity, and an 
illustration of our point : — 

Good Mr. Cecil, I must be a suitor to you in our Master 
Christ's, cause. I beseech you be good unto him. The 
matter is, sir, alas, he hath lyen too long abroad, as you do 
know, without lodging, in the streets of London ; both 
hungry, naked, and cold. Now, thanks be unto Almighty 
God, the citizens are willing to refresh him, and to give 
him both meat, drink, clothing and firing. But alas, sir> 
they lack lodging for him ; for in some one house they say 
they are fain to lodge three families under one roof. Sir, 
there is a wide large house of the King's Majesty's called 
Bridewell, that would wonderful well serve to lodge Christ 
in, if he might find such good friends in the Court as would 
procure in his cause. Surely, I have so good an opinion in 
the King's Majesty, that if Christ had such faithful and 
hearty friends that would heartily speak for him, he should 
undoubtedly speed at the King's Majesty's hands. Sir, I 
have promised my brethren the citizens in this matter to 
move you, because I take you for one that feareth 
God, and would not that Christ should lie no more 
abroad in the street. There is a rumour that one goeth 
about to buy that house of the King's Majesty, and to pull it 
down. If there be any such thing, for God's sake speak you 
in our Master's cause. I have written unto Mr. Gates more 
at large in this matter. I join you with him, and all that 
look for Christ's benediction, in the latter day. If Mr. Cheke 
was with y r ou, in whose recovery God be blessed, I would 
surely make him in this behalf one of Christ's special advo- 



72 THE SIXTH WORK. 

cates, or rather one of his principal proctors ; and surely I 
would not be said nay. And thus I wish you in Christ ever 
well to fare. 

From my house at Fulham, this present Sunday. 
Yours in Christ, 

Nic. Londow.* 

We have been of late awakened to a new sense of 
duty to the sick ; and some of the best movements of our 
age have been in their favour. The fifth act of Christian 
work is progressing; and we are daily discovering its 
connection with the others. The sixth presents us with 
the greatest difficulty of all ; and Christ was not un- 
mindful of its peculiarity. He treats it as different from 
them ; and, by His mode of stating it, implies that it is a 
movement apart from ordinary life; and one which, takes 
us out of the sphere of the other duties of it. There is a 
reason, no doubt, for placing it last in the order of recapi- 
tulation. It is the latest proceeding in which our Chris- 
tian energies are called on to engage. The poor we have 
always with us, the stranger comes to us, the sick are 
within our border; but the prisoner is outside the camp. 

* Lansdoicne 31SS., A. D., 1552. Holinslied. Stoic's Survey 
of London. 



RESISTED WORK. 73 

To seek him we have to forsake the circle in which 
we live ; and to venture into the domain of the enemy. 
The criminal's state is not the common state; and 
therefore, to touch, and to relieve him, ordinary virtuous 
people have to encounter the most formidable obstacles. 
To rescue him, they must make aggressive adventures into 
a place where their work shall meet the most decided 
» resistance. All the other deeds of charity are submitted 
to by the objects of them with entire acquiescence. 
They are agreeable to their subjects ; but the sixth is 
not. The poor and the sick are willing to be operated 
on ; but the prisoner is unwilling to permit any action 
that interferes with him in his special character. As the 
poor, or the sick, he freely consents to the agency of 
charity ; but when it approaches him in the sixth form, 
and takes him morally in hand, his opposition is great. 
The spirit of all evil sympathizes with this resistance, and 
puts forth all its powers to aid it. The most comprehen- 
sive efforts of charity are needed, in order to cope with 
the vigour and strength of this potent adversary to 
morality. 



CHAPTER IY. 

<%rat xxx ^mavu 

SYMPATHY WITH CRIMINALS. 

A Strong Repulsion . . Jewish Prisons . . The Repealed Law . . Our 
Cruelties . . A Remarkable Lesson . . Imprisonment Sanctioned . . A 
House of Mercy. 

There are no words in Scripture that have been more 
misinterpreted than these, " I was in prison." They 
have been referred to the visitation, in their captivity, 
of martyrs to the cause of truth, but this assumption 
narrows the application of the statement to certain 
periods of history, and to select persons ; and it excludes 
altogether from prison-visiting, the greater portion of 
the Christian world. Such limitation of Christian work 
is, as we have shown, entirely inadmissible ; it 
is a service laid on all Christians during the whole 
of this age. The character of their actions as described 
by our Lord, relates to works without restriction of 



A STRONG REPULSION. 75 

person, place, or time. Poverty, sickness, and impri- 
sonment stand in the same category, according to the 
Saviour's declaration ; all are estates to which Christians 
are liable, though, doubtless, the last in order, is the 
least common ; and, therefore, the most difficult to deal 
with. It is easy to conceive the operation of charity, 
in the case of the first and second class of sufferers; 
but the third presents circumstances that seem so 
extraordinary, that it requires some consideration in 
order to comprehend its nature. 

It is quite evident, that Christ's meaning is as 
wide as the breadth of the kingdom He was con- 
templating when He spoke ; and that He was 
referring to the fundamental laws of its social state. 
He intimated that Christendom would ever have the 
poor, the stranger, the sick, and the prisoner to minister 
to ; and He directs that each act of ministration should 
be done as unto Him. He is present in all these 
representative persons. They are equally His members ; 
and, in rejecting any, we rend Him. Some of these 
sufferers are freely admitted to the sympathy of Chris- 
tians; but one is almost by common consent, aban- 
doned to his fate. A strong repulsion is nurtured to 



76 THE SIXTH WORK. 

this one class, on grounds tlie most specious and de- 
luding. There is an impression that it consists of 
persons who have forfeited their claim to the general 
benevolence ; and who are under a punitive discipline, 
of which all the rest of the community are legal 
executors. It is a common belief that an abhorrence 
of criminals accords with God's hatred of sin ; and 
that it is, therefore, a right sentiment towards the 
doers of it. Not only is a decided aversion manifested 
to persons who become subject to imprisonment ; but 
they are even persecuted among us. 

There is much that should be altered, in the prevalent 
state of mind towards these unhappy people, with whom 
the Saviour identifies Himself, when He says, " I was 
in prison. " The prisoner has His sympathy, wherefore 
not that of His followers ? No plea can be more 
powerful. It is exactly that which He advanced for 
the sick, the poor, and the stranger. Christ makes no 
difference : He excommunicates none : the needs of all 
are His needs; and the duty which He lays on His 
servants concerning one, He requires from them for all. 
His words were prophetic of the new order of govern- 
ment which He was ushering in. Up to the time of 



THE JEWISH PRISONS. 77 

His coming, there had been no idea of love and mercy 
for the culprit, connected with the institution of a 
prison. It had existed only for the execution of wrath ; 
and was all justice, and no mercy. 

The Jewish prisons were merely places to retain in cus- 
tody debtors, or condemned persons, during the interval 
that might elapse between their seizure and punishment. 
The practice was to follow arrest with immediate trial, 
and execution of sentence, which was not imprisonment, 
but some species of bodily torture. The administration of 
justice was short and violent; no other action was known 
in connection with it. Our Lord was referring to the laws 
of Christendom, when He supposed the existence of a 
state, in which access to prisoners, for the purposes of 
charity, would be practicable. This state is being but 
slowly elaborated even now by the Christian mind; 
and, hence, hitherto, the sixth work has been but slightly 
attempted. The relics of the old system have been 
retained ; and they have clung to Christianity with the 
tenacity of a death grasp. A strange affection is 
maintained, for the idea of retribution. Sacrifice for 
sin, made once, and for ever, on Calvary, is not fully 
admitted. The knowledge of its substitutionary nature 



78 THE SIXTH WORK. 

was hidden for centuries in the figment of the mass; 
and it is this error which has perpetuated the 'doctrine 
of continual expiation. On it has been founded all 
the prison cruelties of Christian times, which rival in 
torture those of heathen ages, and very little differ from 
them in character. 

It has not been understood, that the whole law 
of vengeance is altogether repealed, under the Chris- 
tian covenant; and that any proceeding connected 
with it is to be avoided. The imprisonment of 
which Christ speaks could not be expressive of it ; and 
it must be an imprisonment on totally different grounds, 
of which He says, li I was in prison/' His salvation 
banished the Jewish penal system; and it could never 
be compatible with that of the Greek or Roman. The 
knowledge of this has not sufficiently operated on the 
Christian mind ; and Christendom has almost universally 
adopted the practices of the Jew, and the heathen, in 
its prison legislation, instead of forming plans for itself. 

Great ignorance of the relationship of Christianity to 
moral law has prevailed; and much evil, has, conse- 
quently, been done in the name of Him, who bears our 
sorrows now, as He did our guilt, in the day of His 



OUR CRUELTIES. 79 

perfect atonement. Among these present sorrows, 
there is imprisonment as well as poverty, and sick- 
ness, and loneliness. Our mistakes, shortcomings, and 
failures increase not only our own griefs and troubles 
but His. " In all our afflictions/' self-wrought as they 
are, " He is afflicted ; " and while we aggravate them 
by neglect of Christian work, we add to His, in heedless 
indifference. How long-suffering has He been, during 
our mistreatment, of the poor, though the hungry, 
the thirsty, and the naked, are Himself ! How has He 
borne with us, while we have dealt ill with the stranger. 
so little relieved the sick; and, though He is the 
prisoner, how graciously has He submitted to our 
cruelties ! 

It should be remembered, that it is with the openly 
criminal class, not with the merely vicious, that Jesus 
identifies Himself. Oh, endless charity ! This is one 
of the " heights and depths of that infinite love, which 
passeth all understanding;" but is within the compass 
of His boundless compassion, " who became sin for us ; " 
and is in accordance with the amazing condescension 
of Him, who " ate and drank with publicans and 
sinners ! " 



80 THE SIXTH WORK. 

The tenderness and pity of Christ for criminals is v 
touchinglj illustrated by the scene recorded in John viii. 
4-11. : — "They say unto him, Master, this woman was 
taken in adultery, in the very act. Now Moses, in the 
law, commanded us, that such should be stoned : but 
what sayest thou ? This they said, tempting him, that 
they might have to accuse him. But Jesus stooped 
down, and with his finger wrote on the ground, as though 
he heard them not. So when they continued asking him, 
he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is 
without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her. 
And again he stooped down, and wrote on the ground. 
And they which heard it, being convicted by their own 
conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, 
even unto the last : and Jesus was left alone, and the 
woman standing in the midst. When Jesus had lifted 
up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto 
her, Woman, where are those thine accusers ? hath no 
man condemned thee ? She said, No man, Lord. And 
Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee : go, 
and sin no more." 

This is a most remarkable lesson on the treatment of 
offenders against the moral law. In it Jesus forbids the 



A REMABKABLE LESSON. 81 

assumption of anything like a vindictive attitude on the 
part of society, and strongly enforces forbearance of 
punishment. In sanctioning imprisonment, He does not 
connect with it the idea of retribution for guilt. The 
duty of Christians in relation to persons convicted of 
crime is something far different. It is "comprised in the 
words of the Lord to the culprit: " Go, and sin no 
more. - " 

This emphatic injunction should be echoed by the fol- 
lowers of the Saviour, and be accompanied by such aid 
as the transgressor needs, in order to " cease to do evil, 
and learn to do well."" The prison was ordained by 
Christ for the purpose of affording an opportunity for 
the performance of this act of charity. Without incar- 
ceration it would be impracticable. The words of advice, 
though divinely wise, would be but empty sound, and 
their utterance, without corresponding effort to provide 
for the difficulty, would be like the command of those 
who say, "Be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding 
they give them not the things which are needful to the 
body/'' 

Not such sympathy as this is that of Jesus for the 
criminal. He becomes the prisoner to show the nature of 



82 THE SIXTH WORK. 

the prison institution in His kingdom ; and to proclaim 
that the Christian Prison is a house of mercy ; and not 
a place of vengeance. The solemn task of administering 
this mercy devolves on Christians ; and the mode of its 
fulfilment is one of the gravest questions of the day. 






CHAPTER Y. 

Deterioration of Prisoners . . The Sense of the Age . . Eetaliation . . 
Heathen Jurisprudence . . Ancient Lawgivers . . Transition-diffi- 
culty. .Forfeited Right. .Prejudice against Prisoners' I Labour. . 
Honest Industry. .The Sweat of the Brow. .Prayer and Visiting. 

The idea that a certain amount of punitive action must 
be carried out in prison, whatever the result of it may be 
to the criminal, is not so firmly fixed as it used to be. 
Formerly, it was supposed that the infliction of penalties 
for offences, involved no responsibility connected with the 
moral improvement of the culprit ; but this opinion is giv- 
ing way before a clearer perception of Christian duty. It 
is acknowledged, now, that no system of prison manage- 
ment is Christian, which does not contemplate the refor- 
mation of transgressors. It is also perceived, that much 
that is practised in our places of incarceration, is not only 
not morally beneficial in its action, but positively the 
reverse. The sense entertained by the public of the 



84 THE SIXTH WORK. 

effect of imprisonment is very marked, in the treatment 
given to released prisoners. They are regarded as 
generally deteriorated, by the process to which they have 
been subjected ; and a strong objection to their return 
to society is manifested. It is, of course, impossible to 
gratify this sentiment. Criminals cannot be perpetually 
detained in prison ; and their re-admission to the com- 
munity must be secured on some equitable terms. The 
protest of the moral members of society to their presence 
is quite just ; but it would cease to be so, if the released 
prisoners re-entered society corrected, and with a hope 
of amendment; and there is no doubt that if any 
proof were given that the action of the prison was refor- 
matory, the refusal to receive them would be rescinded. 
There is not this proof. The evidence is on the other 
side. The statistics of crime establish the fact that it 
is unrestrained by the present penal system ; and they 
form the strongest testimony to the truth of the prevalent 
impression, as to the character of prison influence. 

There is no faith in it as a moral agency. The word 
which Christ hallowed has been defiled by the misapplica- 
tion of its operations ; and it does not convey a Christian 



THE SENSE OF THE AGE. 85 

sense to the hearers ; the sound, on the contrary, has be- 
come a bye- word and a reproach. 

Gospel privileges are not denied to prisoners : access 
to the means of grace is free ; but there evidently is 
something done, and something left undone, which pro- 
duce ill effects. Many instances could be cited of the 
hardening effect of punitive inflictions. Judgments do 
as little for our criminals as they did for Pharaoh of old ; 
and it is difficult to conceive why the plan is continued, 
which has, in such a signal manner, repeatedly failed to 
demonstrate its advantages. Without advocating any 
sickly philanthropy, we would press for the examination 
of the whole tone and temper of our criminal law. It 
will be found at variance with the feeling of the men 
called on, in this day, to administer it ; and the result of 
this is manifest in their growing reluctance to use it. Ob- 
jections to prosecute, for fear of subjecting offenders to 
injurious conditions ; and refusals to convict, lest sen- 
tences, abhorrent to the Christian feeling of the country, 
should be carried into effect, are common. The enact- 
ments of our statutes, in relation to crime, do not carry 
the sense of the age with them. It is not possible that 



Ob THE SIXTH WORK. 

they should, for they do not correspond with our present 
enlightened understanding of the Gospel. 

The reason for this may be traced to the fact, that the 
framework of our jurisprudence was formed in pagan 
Rome. But this framework which has ceased to fit our 
judicial proceedings, has fallen away from it ; and it only 
remains to encumber them, with its ungainly presence. 
Several of the phenomena of our criminal code arise 
from this circumstance. There are remnants of the 
Roman elaborate definition of " rights " among our 
laws, which are marvellous in their minuteness and 
subtlety ; but which only serve to bewilder our percep- 
tions of equity. 

The curious disquisitions on crime which we derive 
from our heathen ancestors, are a digest of human 
nature, valuable per se ; but the sequence to which they 
are allied is wholly inapplicable to us. The tradi- 
tionary knowledge of God's ordinance of a sacrifice for 
sin pervades the whole of them. Every act of guilt, 
suggested to the heathen mind an act of retaliation; 
and, on this principle, for every transgression there 
was a physical penalty, supposed to be apportioned to 
the offence, exacted as a satisfaction to the Deity; and 



HEATHEN JURISPRUDENCE. 87 

as marking the public sense of morality, which was out- 
raged by it. Beyond this, no further notice was taken 
of the criminal. Erom the moment Ins crime was 
detected, the sword of vengeance was put in motion. 
Everything that was agreeable to his feelings, and hon- 
ourable to him, as a man, was removed, and a process 
of degradation steadily enforced. The three degrees of 
capitis minutio, by which the Romans reduced a man 
for crime from freedom to slavery, left no hope of his 
restoration to his former condition. 

This was, no doubt, the primitive conception of 
humanity concerning the punishment of sin ; and it was 
developed by all pre-Christian civilizations. The legis- 
lature of Greece revealed it; and their laws were but 
precursors of the more refined philosophy of the follow- 
ing empire. "Wherever the Romans set up their standard, 
they set up their principles of justice; and there they 
remain to this day. Pew Christian nations have as yet 
emancipated themselves, in their prison discipline, from the 
yoke of heathenism. By degrees we have shaken off some 
of its impositions, the repugnance of which to the spirit of 
Christianity, could not be hidden ; but the protest against 
them has been feeble, and its action slow. Centuries 



88 THE SIXTH WORK. 

have come and gone, and we have patiently borne the 
burden, with a resolution and loyalty worthy of a better 
cause. Popery taught us submission on grounds as un- 
tenable as the theory it indorsed ; and we have, there- 
fore, been endeavouring to deter men from crime, by an 
illicit agency ; and ^e have been neglecting to apply the 
true remedies provided for the purpose. 

The transition of power from secular to ecclesiastical 
Rome, scarcely altered the state of our prison affairs 
at all. The Roman Catholic Church permitted a penal 
system as unchristian as that of the Roman Catholic 
empire; and as one occupied the ground of the other, 
very little change occurred in the nature of prison work. 
The ramifications into which the old system had run, 
were left untouched; and some equally objectionable 
novel points were grafted on the original institution. 
The great Tullian, Rome's circular prison, has marked 
ndelibly the thoughts of ages ; and the cruelties prac- 
tised in it, and in the Ergastula, were continued under 
Christian rule; instead of being obliterated with the 
other relics of heathendom. 

It is time that there was some discrimination in this 
matter. We overrate the wisdom of ancient lawgivers > 



ANCIENT LAWGIVERS. 89 

and the worth of ancient laws. The statutes of Solon, 
Lycurgus, Draco, and Caesar, &c, should no longer be 
said to form the groundwork of our code. Christianity 
does not embody their laws, but substitutes for them its 
own sublime and simple rule of life. In the Christian 
prison, the heathen sages of antiquity have but a subor- 
dinate place. Christ is its supreme legislator; and 
He abolishes the whole of their theory of criminal treat- 
ment, root and branch, destroying it utterly. Popery 
never sweeps away the doctrine of vengeance ; on the 
contrary, it retains it, and practises it in the name of 
Christ; and adds to it Jewish superstitions, and devices 
of its own, with which it has cemented a system of 
judicature, which it retains wherever it is regnant. It 
is not commonly remembered that our prison plans are 
mostly pagan or papal; and not yet assimilated to 
Scriptural principles. 

The ideal of the Christian prison is not yet developed 
among us. It is still latent ; the heathen connection is 
not quite broken off; it remains, and confuses the 
popular mind to a most disadvantageous extent. We 
degrade our criminals hopelessly by acting on the ancient 
model. Imprisonment is a downward step which a man 



90 THE SIXTH WORK. 

with, us never retrieves ; while it should be a vestibule to 
a better state. The formation of a Christian prison, is 
a Christian work which has yet to be accomplished. 

Other parts of Christendom have been enlightened by 
rays of increased Christian intelligence on this subject; 
even places where Christianity is more vitiated than in 
this land, Holland, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, and 
Trance, have been visited by gleams of light about 
prisons; and it is time that these fragments of truth 
were drawn together and consolidated on a right basis. 
Times are out of joint; and our movements in rela- 
tion to crime are, probably, more so than any other. 
Conventionalisms which confuse our sense of right and 
wrong mislead us considerably on this subject. 

We may, perhaps, consider our prison system to be in 
a state of transition. The authorities are experimen- 
talizing, with laudable zeal, to discover how to apply the 
reformatory scheme in their establishments ; and the 
same difficulty meets them in this case, as that which 
confronts legislative interference in the general education 
of the country. It is as hard to apply moral as mental 
instruction, on any universal scheme. There are, in both 
cases, so many different qualities to be considered for, 



TRANSITION-DIFFICULTY. 91 

that it would be as impossible to construct a uniform 
plan for mental or moral cultivation, as it would be to 
put people of all sizes into garments of the same dimen- 
sions. 

Every report published by the prisons' department of 
the Government, shows how anxiously all practicable 
openings are made to admit reformatory action, within 
the dark circles of crime. The returns state, with per- 
fect candour, the inefficacy of the old proceedings ; and 
eagerly note every improvement effected by the new 
course of action. 

There is much to be learned from these reports of 
the condition of the men and women in our prisons, that 
cannot fail to interest every heart ; and excite a 
warm desire, that the true principles of Christian charity 
may rule, not only in them but in the community to- 
wards their inmates. 

The virtuous and moral often forget that they have such 
fellow-creatures ; and the pious do not always remember, 
that their Lord appeals for them, as for Himself ; and 
that He embraces them in His words : " I was in 
prison." As human beings in the most trying of all 
circumstances, He feels for them; and He asks our 



92 THE SIXTH WORK. 

compassion for their case. It is of great impor- 
tance to grant this on right grounds. Prisoners are 
not to be pitied for the loss of gratifications, in which 
they were in the habit of indulging. They are properly 
cut off from the enjoyments of life, and curtailed of all 
but the bare necessaries of existence. Even these, in the 
Christian prison, should be purchased at the cost of the 
offender's labour. The criminal has forfeited the right 
to be supported, like the virtuous poor, at the expense 
of the community; and until the prison system is en- 
tirely based on the principle, that "if a man will not 
work neither shall he eat," it will not be a really Christian 
institution. 

Christianity has but very simple reformatory process 
to propose. It is merely that of work. 

There is a general impression, that this is provided in 
our prisons; and that "labour/' and "hard labour/' 
in prison, mean reproductive employment; but this is 
not always the case. It is not the rule, but the excep- 
tion, when it occurs ; and it is, no doubt, carried out 
under great difficulty, wherever it is attempted. This is 
probably the reason that much of the physical exertion 



HONEST INDUSTRY. 93 

required from the prisoners is entirely unproductive ; and 
that the moral effect of it is nil. 

It is worth trying whether this influence would in- 
crease with real, useful work, such as the reasoning faculties 
of the criminals could understand and approve of. But 
prisons, like workhouses, are under the management of 
authorities, little likely to undertake the trouble of sur- 
mounting the many and great obstacles to the profitable 
employment of their charges. 

The deep-seated prejudice against the competition of 
such labour with that of the working classes, operates 
powerfully on their minds ; and for fear of exciting it, 
the attempt to carry out such a system of discipline, as 
would compel criminals to earn their support is post- 
poned, until better public opinion prevail on the subject. 
Meantime, this postponement is working all the evil of 
which idleness and fulness of bread are capable; and 
charity urges with all its force, that there is no security 
in any course, but that of insisting on the practice of 
the great virtue of honest industry. 

' c In the sweat of thy brow shalt thou eat bread," said 
the Creator ; whether the sweat is produced by mental 



94 THE SIXTH WORK. 

or bodily toil, there is to be a certain individual effort 
made, in order to fulfil the law of God in the 
matter of providing for our needs. It is this exact law 
which the criminal breaks. He will satisfy his desires 
without complying with this ordinance ; and it is only 
by obliging him to obey it, that we reduce him to mora 
order, a condition alone to be attained by the direct 
application of labour to the purposes of life. When 
those who have refused to work, and who instead have 
violated the decalogue, are brought to perform, even 
compulsorily, the common duty of man, a great point in 
morality is gained ; and a lesson is taught, in the most 
impressive manner, that enjoyments must be possessed or 
acquired, under the law of right, which pledges the 
individual to the devotion of his energies to a certain 
object ; and to the restraint of his tendency to seize on, 
and appropriate, that whereon he bestowed no labour. 

The fact that our prisons are not in a state of perfec- 
tion, should not alter the tone of our feelings towards 
prisoners. They are not responsible for the faults of 
the institution; its faults only entitle them to a 
larger share of pity. If imprisonment make them worse, 
instead of better, the blame should not be visited on 



PRAYER AND VISITING. 95 

them; they have, for that reason, stronger claim on 
us. 

It becomes, more imperatively than ever, our duty 
to endeavour to repair the injury done them ; and to try 
to make up to them the moral loss they have sustained. 
Outside the prison, before and after imprisonment, the 
criminal has a claim on us, which we cannot ignore. It 
is not practicable to reconstruct the whole prison system, 
all at once, on the Christian principle ; but it is practi- 
cable to demonstrate what the principle is, by illus- 
trating its application in individual cases ; and if some 
desire be kindled to promote true Gospel action, in 
this branch of our public service, it will best manifest itself 
by endeavours to aid and befriend the subjects of its 
work. 

It is not enough that we pray for "prisoners and 
captives ; " we must visit them ; and see whether their 
prison is such as Christ can approve — calculated to 
answer His purpose of love, their reconcilement to His 
most holy law. 



CHAPTEE VI. 

%\t ft|ridimx frkoctt. 

WARD NO. I. 
REFORMATORIES AND INDUSTRIAL SCHOOLS. 

Classification. .BeformatorySchool's Act. .The Presence of a Child 
. . The Great Effort . . The Unreclaimed District . . Proportioned 
Fertility .." Be Good ".. Poor Little Outsiders .. Interest in the 
Movement. . " Cannot be gotten for Gold " . .Testimony of Vicious 
Pupils . . A Baby Prisoner . . The Advantages of the Connection . . 
Influence of Love and Gratitude . . Continental States Advanced . . 
Mettray and Bauhe Haus Training-schools . . Superior Moral 
Effort possible in Foreign Prisons. 

Ten years ago, an Act of Parliament came into opera- 
tion, which instituted the most important classification 
of criminals that could possibly be attempted. It 
provided for the separation of young offenders from old 
transgressors ; and it specially contemplated the correc- 
tion and training of juvenile criminals. This enactment 
rests on undoubted Christian authority ; and deserves to 
be rated as the first step toward the formation of the 



REFOUMATOEY SCHOOLS* ACT. 97 

Christian prison. It stands at the head of all the rules 
that can be framed, for the management of imprisonment 
on Gospel principles ; and it should engage the attention 
of all interested not only in prisons, but in the educa- 
tion of the lower classes. 

Before the passing of the Reformatory Schools' Act, 
children convicted of crime, at any age, were sent to the 
common prisons; and they have there associated with 
mature malefactors. The consequence of this may be 
easily conceived. No better means could have been 
devised for realizing that evil communication is corrupt- 
ing — that manners originally bad can be made worse ; 
and slight tendencies to crime increased and con- 
firmed. There are abundance of facts that prove the 
incarceration of the young with the old to have been one 
of the most fruitful sources of crime. The histories of 
many of our convicts show that they began their careers 
at a very early age; some at 8, 9, and 10 years; and 
that their first imprisonment was but a prelude to many 
subsequent ones, until the final stage of penal servitude 
made them a permanent burden to society. 

Moral disease, like physical disease, is easiest checked 
when it is attacked in the early stages; and, in order to 

H 



98 THE SIXTH WORK. 

treat it with any probability of success, the victim of it must 
be separated from the similarly affected. There is no disease 
so spreading as moral evil ; and, hence, the most rigorous 
distinction between those who exhibit it, in various 
forms, is- absolutely indispensable to amendment. Age 
in years, age in guilt, disposition, habits, and proclivities,, 
form grounds for classification ; and the strongest of these 
is that to which we are alluding, the separation of the 
child from the adult. 

The principle of this is well established. All thought- 
ful, conscientious people,, act on it ; and, indeed, some 
who are not, in other matters, particularly considerate,, 
and whose morals are by no means irreproachable, in 
this act rightly enough, and avoid many things, in the- 
presence of a child, which they would do, or say, else- 
where, without scruple. We have an instinctive regard 
for the pure time of life. Even the worst believe, that 
"it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about 
his neck, and he cast into the sea, than that he should 
offend one of these little ones." 

In the better classes, intense anxiety is manifested on 
this subject. The preservation of the "little ones" is the 
grand object of their parental existence. Mothers and 



THE GREAT EFFORT. 99 

fathers study it with all their powers ; and, it must be 
confessed, that the very Jiighest and greatest exercise of 
their intelligence sometimes fails to secure the freedom of 
their children, from manifestation of symptoms of the 
common disorder of human depravity. The great effort 
is to subdue these symptoms, to keep down the outburst 
of self-gratification, at the expense of others ; and to form 
the character to act according to the laws that govern 
Christian living. This moral training, apart from 
religious exhortation, is invariably given, by all who 
educate their children on Christian principles ; and, yet, 
many who are most strict in the practice of this course 
themselves, doubt the benefit of supplying this training 
to the criminal classes, either in youth or age. To 
them, they would give nothing but abstract religious in- 
struction, forgetting that they use, in their own homes, 
with "line upon line, precept upon precept," daily, hourly, 
aye, momentarily, the practical force of moral instruc- 
tion. With eye, hand, and tongue, it is continually being' 
given to the children of the moral ; and of its efficacy we 
have ample proof. There can be no question, then, as to 
the necessity of affording it to those who are destitute of 
it. It is better to bestow it late than never; and, on this 



100 THE SIXTH WOKK. 

ground, at any time of life., it is to be attempted ; but the 
period at which it is peremptorily demanded is in child- 
hood. 

The legislature has given a good opportunity for 
doing this by the passing of the Reformatory Schools^ 
Act, 

Whenever a creature of tender age is convicted of a 
crime, instead of imprisonment among full-grown felons, 
he or she may be sent to a Eeformatory, over the age of 
ten years; and to an Industrial School, under that time of 
life, for a period of not less than two years, and not more 
than five; during this time, to be subjected to the kind care 
and treatment of persons devoted to this service, from 
love to Him who said, " Suifer the little children to come 
unto me, for of such are the kingdom of heaven:" This 
love alone can lead people to take an interest in such 
work, with the knowledge that Jesus calls even criminal 
babes to His feet; and wills their instruction in the 
"things that are able to make them wise unto sal- 
vation." 

It is a known fact, that, in this professedly Christian land, 
there is a large number of children for whom no parents 
care ; and who are without home, and friends, untaught, 
unfed, unsheltered from the winter's storm, and from the 






PROPORTIONED FERTILITY. 101 

summer's heat, and exposed to all the physical distress, and 
moral mischief, that are driven from the dwellings of the 
better orders. These children wander, with vague pur- 
poses, in the wild space where want and selfishness run riot. 
The very wisest and best among us sometimes forget that 
there is In the country this great unreclaimed district of 
human sorrow ; and that in it are swarms of children who 
are born in it ; and who are, consequently, not responsible 
for being inhabitants of it. The phenomenon is that popu- 
lation increases in it more rapidly than elsewhere. The 
poor and vicious may be short-lived, but they are 
fertile. The dirtiest and most wretched places are 
usually most thickly crowded with the rising genera- 
tion. 

Lanes, courts, garrets, cellars, and streets, are replen- 
ished in a wonderful manner with inmates, who, as they go 
down in social gradation, rise in numerical proportions. 
In these, the infant criminal is propagated in propor- 
tions corresponding to the level of their sections. 
There has been enough said, sung* and published 
about them, to move the very stones of the streets to cry 
for help for them. 

In the upper ranks of society no one expects a child 
to ' l be good/* unless it is made to be so by a regular 



102 THE SIXTH WORK. 

process of some sort. Most people Lave an art 
of their own for doing this, of which they vaunt, and 
exhibit the results triumphantly, in "little dears " 
brought up to perfect manners and tempers. These 
wise folks talk of the " bad boys and girls of the town,* 
and of the " wicked little roadside tramps ; " and rarely re- 
member why these are so. 

Poor little outsiders ! perhaps no mother carried 
them into Chrises house of prayer, nor offered them 
to His arms; no father led them out to gaze, it 
may be, on the works of God, nor directed their 
young idea to the heavenly goal ! Most probably, they 
were virtually, if not nominally, orphans. 

It devolves, then, on the State to stand in loco parentis ; 
and in 1854, when it took the solemn charge of children 
who had developed evil propensities, it assumed a most 
holy and Christian position. It must be carefully marked 
that the Government does not, in the least, attempt to 
supersede parental responsibility. The provisions of the 
Reformatory Act make it burdensome on parents who do 
not fulfil their natural obligation, to train their child to 
honest living; for they are, under it, chargeable with 
the support of their child in the Reformatory, on the 



INTEREST IN THE MOVEMENT. 103 

just principle of making them pay a penalty for their 
neglect. 

This legislation is sound ; and it is to be regretted that 
it is. difficult to give it effect : " The good or evil of the 
reformatory system hinges essentially on the steady 
enforcement of a fair and sufficieut contribution from the 
parents of every child under detention." — (Report of 
Reformatory and Industrial Schools, page 13.) 

By this it would be made to act on both old and young ; 
and be thus a doubly active moral agency. But parents 
who are wicked enough to defraud their little ones of 
moral guidance, are not generally sufficiently conscientious 
to defray this debt; and the enforcing of it is not 
always, therefore, practicable. 

The cost of this effort to suppress juvenile crime 
comes, consequently, chiefly on the public, which 
supplies it in the form both of taxation and of bene- 
volent donations. £9,607 6s. 4d. has been received 
by subscription and bequest in the year 1863-4, a sum 
which forms nearly one-tenth of the cost of this 
branch of the Christian prison, the whole expenditure on 
which amounted to £96,167 5s. 8d. 

The amount of private contributions to this fund does 



104 THE SIXTH WORK. 

not adequately represent the interest of the Christian public 
in the movement. There is a greater demonstration of it in 
the fact, that every one of the reformatories throughout 
the kingdom, were founded by voluntary agency ; and 
that most, if not all of them, have gratuitous aid in the 
management of their establishments ; and much labour 
and wisdom bestowed on them, which " cannot be gotten 
for gold/' There are sixty-five of these schools ; and 
no small share of loving-kindness is testified in them to 
the lambs of Christ's flock. 

Beside these, there are 31 "Industrial Schools/' to 
which the youngest class of offenders is admissible, on 
their first conviction of crime. These are conducted on 
the same plan as the schools for culprits over ten, and 
under sixteen years of age ; and all that is said of one 
agency applies to the other; 

Jointly they form Ward No 1. of our Christian prison. 
It is small as yet, far too small for the wants of those 
it is intended to benefit ; and it increases but slowly in 
dimensions. 

At present, the effect of its action on the ready-made 
criminal mass is not evident ; but in the material from 
whence this is collected, there is a decided change. The 



TESTIMONY OF VICIOUS PUPILS. 105 

total number of known thieves, depredators, receivers of 
stolen goods, prostitutes, suspected persons, and vagrants 
under sixteen years of age, in 1864 was 9,173, while 
the average for the years 1858-59-60 was 18,250 ; since 
which date, a steady diminution has been perceptible 
in the judicial returns under this head. 

This is evidence of a decided impression on the 
country ; and it will, in time, be followed by a decrease 
of juvenile convictions. But this cannot take place until 
a greater number of these criminals are subjected to the 
new process. 

In the past year, 8,857 children were convicted of 
crime; and of these only 1534 found their way 
into the reformatories. This is owing to two circum- 
stances — a lingering distrust of their efficacy, on the 
part of the justices • and the want of a sufficient num- 
ber of these schools. These impediments it would be desi- 
rable to remove ; for, while they remain, the principle 
on which the moral scheme works cannot be truly 
tested. 

While so few of the whole number of young criminals 
are confided to their care, they cannot be expected to 
perform any great service to the community. In indi- 



106 THE SIXTH WORK. 

vidual cases, they answer well, but as a public work 
they have, as yet, not had an opportunity of making a 
stand against crime. This should be taken into account 
in judging of their effects. 

On the evidence of a few peculiarly vicious young 
people, objections have been entertained against these 
institutions ; but these cannot be considered sound. 
The testimony of pupils is not that on which we found 
our estimate of other kinds of schools, and there is no 
reason for making an exception in the case of those for 
criminals, but the reverse. 

The Inspector of Reformatory and Industrial Schools 
states, in his last annual Report, that a special difficulty 
is found in London, in promoting this effort to save 
children from the prison; and he says : — 

The consequence is, that a large proportion of the 
disorderly and reckless boys who throng the railway stations, 
and hang about the crossings, are left at liberty to ply their 
trade of begging and petty pilfering till qualified to graduate 
as thieves and prepared for the gaol and the reformatory. 
The large number of juveniles committed to the London 
prisons is an impressive comment on the indifferent success 
of the Refuges and Ragged Schools of London, in coping 
with and preventing crime ; and the marked increase 
which I have noticed in the early part of this Report, 



A BABY PRISONER. 107 

should lead the promoters of reformatory agency in the 
metropolis to consider the subject very much more deeply 
than they have heretofore done, dealing with it as a matter 
of public policy for the community at large, rather than as 
one of private benevolence. — Report of Reformatory and In- 
dustrial Schools, page 17. 

The iniquity of sending young children to prison 
still prevails, notwithstanding the movement which is 
bravely contending with it. When the Police Reports, 
and the Criminal Courts' Reports, daily inform the public 
of infants of ten, nine, eight, seven years old and younger 
being condemned to imprisonment, few are able to 
realize what such a circumstance involves. The account 
of an eye-witness may serve to give an idea of it. 

Not long ago, a lady visitor entered the female ward 
of a county gaol. Her attention was attracted by a 
little child who was crying convulsively; and whom the 
inmates were soothing and caressing, with every possible 
display of womanly kindness. They readily informed 
her that the baby was a fellow-prisoner, that it was six 
years old, and had been committed for theft ! 

The young offender was as fair and pretty a creature as 
any mother might be proud to own ; but, alas ! it had 
none to rejoice in its beauty. No loving tones had chid 



108 THE SIXTH WORK. 

the little naughty thing, no gentle touch had led it 
from its temptation. An upraised finger would have 
done it ; but that attractive magnet had not intervened ; 
and so cold iron was cast around the infant form, 
to repel its sinful propensities. It was cast into 
prison. 

The very sound of such a fate has barbarism in it. If 
this were mentioned as a heathen act, the strong pro- 
test of indignant Christianity might have been heard 
above the assertion of usage, privilege, and law. But 
it was a common occurrence ; and had no novelty in it 
for any one who knew of it, except the prison- visitor ; 
and to her it was a sad revelation. 

The effect on the child was just what might be natu- 
rally expected. The bars terrified her : the cold cells, 
the strange faces, the absence of friends, the unusual 
food, were, to the poor, weak, little one, as they would 
be to any child, most appalling. She fretted and sobbed 
incessantly. Her companions, some of the most degraded, 
criminal women in the country, did all that lay in their 
power to mitigate her sufferings, and tried their best to 
cheer her tender heart. 

The immature mind had small perception of the cause 



THE ADVANTAGES OP THE CONNECTION. 109 

of what had befallen it ; and it strove in vain to con- 
ceive an answer to the question : 

" Why can I not go home ? " 

After a period of six weeks, during which the little 
one had become somewhat reconciled to its strange 
abode, and attached to its new friends, it was mercifully 
removed to an Industrial School ; and the child is still 
under the charge of this Christian Institution. 

It is to be hoped that under fostering care, the girl will 
grow up an honest woman ; and should she do so, it will 
not be owing to the inhuman chastisement that visited 
her earliest transgression. 

The story of this child has some peculiar features ; 
and they will serve to illustrate a point, which it is 
desirable to bring forward. She was a destitute orphan, 
whom some wealthy ladies, of high position, and well- 
known piety, took into their house ; and whom they pro- 
posed to rear as a domestic servant, and to train "in 
the nurture and admonition of the Lord/'' Their inten- 
tion did honour to their Christian character ; but the 
mode of its fulfilment strangely corresponds with their 
reputed wisdom and charity. 

They had taken M. B., a baby, and had had her 



110 THE SIXTH WORK. 

nursed, and brought up in their household. She had 
no memory of any other home than their luxurious 
mansion; and had no idea of any state unconnected 
with plenty, comfort, happiness, and kindness. There 
had been no privations in her lot, which was almost 
that of a child born to the privileges of the upper 
classes. The circumstances of her crime did not alter her 
position with regard to those who had adopted her ; and 
it was their duty to have given her all the advantages of 
the connection. Within its scope, there surely should 
have been found, some means of treating the trangres- 
sions of so yonng a sinner. It was a strange misconcep- 
tion of the place of the prison in the social scheme, that 
led to the act of incarcerating the child, No institution 
is intended to supersede that of which they ought to 
have been in possession — a home containing all the 
needful means of teaching and maintaining moral disci- 
pline among its members. In that household full of 
women the mother-heart was dead, or the mother-head 
was most woefully misinstructed. 

The occurrence was one which misht have called forth 

o 

many Christian virtues, instead of which it betrayed their 
absence, and the absence also of that knowledge of how 



INFLUENCE OE LOVE AND GRATITUDE. Ill 

to do the will of Christ, which His followers are bound 
to add to their faith. 

The story of the infant's sin is very simple. It 
had happened that a wedding was to take place in 
the family; and that the house became the scene of 
preparations for it, which brought fresh and exciting cir- 
cumstances before the undeveloped sense of M. B. She 
was, be it remembered, only six years old. New things 
were continually coming in for the approaching estivity ; 
pretty ornaments were scattered about ; the child han- 
dled them ; and played with the precious articles. She 
coveted some particular things, that charmed her dawn- 
ing fancy. Articles of jewellery were missed. M. B. had 
stolen them. The gewgaws were found where she had 
hidden them. The babe was declared a full-grown 
thief ! She was prosecuted, and convicted, and 
imprisoned. 

Happily, the first ward of the Gospel prison was in 
existence, and the juvenile criminal was permitted to pass 
into it; else, where would now have been the poor 
orphan girl ? Prison friendships might have been pur- 
sued; and, ere this, have worked her ruin. She was 
wax within the grasp of those who embraced her, in 
her hours of trouble, in the gaol. Her love and 



112 THE SIXTH WORK. 

gratitude would have been easily won ; and, through 
them, she might have been the victim of the worst 
lusts. Through the interposition of the reformatory 
agency, this mischief has been averted. The love and 
gratitude of the child now lead to virtue; and M. B. 
bids fair to be a credit to the system. 

Many instances of the benefit it has conveyed to indi- 
viduals could be adduced; and an interesting volume 
might be filled with such cases, if it were judicious to 
publish notices of the kind ; but it would be as indis- 
creet a proceeding to do so, as it would be injurious to 
to give biographical sketches, of the many persons 
whose lives have included a criminal interlude ; and who 
have succeeded in gaining a respectable footing in moral 
society. 

This sort of evidence may be necessary to a certain 
class of the public ; but the thoughtful will not require 
further witness than that which is supplied to the Govern- 
ment in the official Beports. The Rev. Sydney Turner 
says : — 

On examining the figures of this return it will be seen 
that the proportion of those known to be doing well to the 
number discharged is for both boys and girls just about 
60 per cent. ; that of the unknown, for boys 21. for girls, 
15 per cent. ; that of the doubtful or re-convicted, who 



CONTINENTAL STATES ADVANCED. 113 

may fairly be classed together as cases of failure, or relapse, 
something over 16 per cent. (16-4) for boys, and a little over 
22 per cent (22*1) for girls. 

On comparing these returns with those for the previous 
year, it will be found that the proportions of those doing 
well, unknown, &c, to the whole, are just about the same. 
Those of the boys are about two per cent., and those of the 
girls about six per cent, more favourable. If, as in former 
estimates, I divide the " unknown " equally between the 
doing well on the one hand, and the doubtful or relapsed 
on the other, the same result comes out as I have found in 
preceding years, viz., that about seventy per cent, of those 
who are brought under reformatory training are permanently 
rescued or improved by its influence. 

The returns from the prisons are, as before, very favour- 
able. During the year ending December 31st, 1864, 226 
boys and 20 girls were recognized in English or "Welsh 
gaols as having been in reformatory schools. The total 
numbers discharged from the English and Welsh reforma- 
tories in the 3£ years ending June 30, 1864, (exclusive of 
emigrants sent out to the colonies,) was just about 2,100 
boys and 560 girls ; figures which give a per-centage of 
reconviction as thus tested of nearly eleven (10*7) per cent, 
for boys, and over three (3*5) per cent, for girls. — Reports of 
Reformatory and Industrial Schools, pages 7, 8. 

In the prisons of Continental States, the reformatory 

principles have been some time in operation. At 

Kaiserslanten, they have reduced reconvictions to seven 

per cent., and at Munich to ten. Their success has, 

i 



114 THE SIXTH WORK. 

at Valencia, and in Ireland, established the credit 
of the system of " marks/' which forms a part of their 
details. This system, on a plan similar to that of Captain 
Machonochie, of Norfolk Island celebrity, has recently 
been introduced into the English convict prisons; and, 
as the first step to a new treatment of criminals, it is a 
movement of great promise. 

Foreign modes of action can rarely be imported, but 
there are features in the reformatories at Mettraj^, and 
at Rauhe Haus, which might be judiciously imitated 
in this country. 

One of these is the use made of them, in constituting 
them training-schools for prison officials. The impor- 
tance of procuring a trained body for this service, has not 
yet been impressed on the legislature of this country. As 
it proceeds in reformatory action, the necessity for this ' 
will be increasingly apparent. The value of the practical 
instruction obtained at the Eauhe Haus, is evident in the 
superior moral effort, of which the prisons, that employ 
its pupils are capable. It might be difficult, but it would 
be by no means impossible, to pursue a similar course of 
preparation in England, for work, which differs from all 
other, in its special nature, and peculiar difficulty. 



CHAPTEE, VII. 

%j\t %rle at Crime* 

Mapped Orbit .. Reversed Action. .Crime's First Phase .. Dimen- 
sions of the Phases . . Within our Horizon . . Distressing Cogno- 
men. .A Rectified Growth. .The Midnight of Crime. ." Years of 
Discretion" . .The Age of Will. .The Doings of Will. .Ghastly 
Spectacles . . Local Influences . . Occupation and " no Occupation " 
. . " By all means to save some " . .Attention and Endeavour. 

So many facts have been ascertained concerning the 
progress of crime, and its connections with the ages, 
and circumstances of its victims, that it may be now 
fairly asserted to have a cycle; and its orbit may be 
mapped and observed, with almost certainty. 

The grand achievement of finally checking its course, 
and putting an end to its motion, is not what any one 
dreams of. Of this work we may not speak. It can- 
not be done by man. In the individual, or in the race, 
it is the work of God, Himself ; and is beyond our compre- 
hension, and above our speculation. 

We merely alluded to this work, in an early chapter 



116 THE SIXTH WORK. 

when we mentioned prison conversions. They, in their 
rarity and beauty, present the only instances of crime 
really stayed, in its progress, and its circular action 
reversed. 

The moral effort is but an attempt to meet the great 
whirling body, as it rolls round and round on its axis, 
and speeds on its circuitous path, encircling earth in its 
hideous outline. 

Crime, in its first phase, as it appears among chil- 
dren, waxes with a steady progress; and the action 
with regard to it, of which we treated in the foregoing 
chapter, is one of great importance. The reformatory 
agency has an advantage over it, at that age, which can 
never afterwards be secured. \t may, then, withdraw 
on the easiest terms many an item that might swell the 
bulk of the next, and climacteric stage of the burden- 
some satellite, which as inevitably attends the earth as 
her fair consort, the calm queen of the night. 

The prevention of the culmination of evil, by interfering 
with the tendency of vice to centralize, and to congregate 
bad propensities, is of much consequence ; for these, in 
their climax, impart polarization to the darkness of 
crime ; and form the monster from which the world 



DIMENSIONS OF THE PHASES. 117 

cries for deliverance. To distribute the particles of this 
mass, so as to lighten its pressure on our social frame- 
work, by the equalization of its weight, is a legitimate 
human effort. 

In the Christian prison of which we have treated, we 
hope that great things, towards the accomplishment of 
this end, may be done ; and, in order to estimate what 
these may be, it is well to glance at the dimensions of 
the phases of crime, in relation to each other; 
and see the first, second, and third, exhibiting their 
proportions. 

Last ^year, the early period was represented by 
1,152 criminals under 12 years of age. 
7,305 „ 16 

25,272 „ 21 

The second, and middle time brought up the frightful 
figure to 42, 174 persons under 30 years old; and then 
begun the waning of the gloomy scene, as, tapering down 
from 24,904 under the age of 40; 15,115 under 50; 
6,551 under 60, to 3,267, and 866 in the far-off verge 
of vanishing life, it was lost to human sight. 

It remains for us to look at, and to deal with, the matter 
as it comes within our horizon ; and the discovery that 



118 THE SIXTH WORK, 

breaks on us with its dawning, naturally strikes us first, 
and with greatest force. 

Who is not touched at the manifestation of crime in 
childhood ? The sight of little ones gathered together by 
the law, instead of the voice of family affection, and 
sheltered in a substitutionary " Home/'' where the ties 
of kindred are broken, with the cognomen " offenders " 
added to the name sacred to Christ's love, and to that of 
the father, whom they should honour, would be sadly dis- 
tressing, if it were not cheered by the hope of their sal- 
vation, from the thicker gloom of full-grown, cherished 
sin — from the fate of the outcast, and the nam£ of the 
" convict."" 

The large numbers snatched from this dark state, and 
distressing denomination, and ushered into a brighter 
sphere, by the school-imprisonment of children, gives 
the country a rectified growth of a very valuable cha- 
racter. Seventy youths out of every hundred, who 
enter this division of the Christian prison, go forth 
reformed; and it is trusted also endowed with the 
fervour of new converts, valiant to insist on that 
honesty and truth in others, the value of which they 
have learned themselves. But of the residue what 



THE MIDNIGHT OP CRIME. 119 

shall we say ? Alas ! it passes into the shade of the 
coming phase, and forms the nucleus of its darkest 
depth. 

Between the age of 21 and 30 years lies the great 
season of crime. Then all that has remained unchecked 
in childhood, gets its development ; and a body of cul- 
prits fr to the manner born " is found, which joins itself 
to a host, whose crime-life but begins at the time when 
passions are full, strength greatest, purposes young, and 
mind energetic. These unite to form the zenith — the 
midnight— of crime. 

The majority of prisoners are what is called "in 
the flower of their age " — " the prime of life " — 
"the years of discretion." In other circumstances, 
this period rates at a high value. In prison its 
worth is small. It conveys no advantage to the man 
over the child. No greater number of adults become 
morally enlightened than of children. The proportions 
are in favour of the latter ■ for the mass of guilt which 
provides the figure with its hard, stolid, central block 
of crimes is formed by the repeated offences of those 
who have passed their nonage, and entered on man's 
e state. Of these, 3,975 re-appear above ten times in 



120 THE SIXTH WORK. 

prison; and they contrast remarkably with 18,603, who 
only once stand in the ranks of the criminal. 

Statistics are not very clear on this matter, but it may 
be asserted, that it is just at the most effective time of a 
man or woman's life, that crime is most exhibited. Crimi- 
nals seem to have no " years of discretion ." The time so 
named in others, in them may be called the Age of Will. 
With Will they oppose discretion. It is their law ,• and 
we cannot overrate the power it wields, nor the difficulty 
of interfering with it. 

The potency and the working of this force are curious 
and complex ; and they are only seen when it has con- 
quered all that is due to others, and sways its possessor 
to live for self-gratification alone. This Will is the 
root of crime ; and with it all effort for its suppression 
has to deal. It is of no use to confront it with 
the infliction of physical torture. The iron stubbornness 
of the " I will " cannot be assailed by such means. It 
is able to encounter the greatest amount of bodily 
agony, privation, and distress. It resolves to submit 
in order that it may accomplish its design, after all is 
done that can be done corporeally to prevent its move- 
ments. 



THE DOINGS OP WILL. 121 

No one who reads the daily prints can doubt that 
men are capable of this, and women too. Numerous 
instances are furnished to us every day, of persons under- 
going hardships the most severe and degrading, without 
being, in the least, morally benefited. They remain as 
wickedly determined as ever to commit crime; and there 
are no instances that can be produced of this Will being 
conquered by these external means. Unbroken by 
present suffering, and unbent by the prospect of future 
torture, it can brave death — aye, and kill itself in blind 

ance of all consequences. It nerves the suicide 
to dare his fate, enables him to trample down faith, 
forget hope, resist charity, and desperately plunge into 
perdition. 

"Conscience, which makes cowards of us all/' is van- 
quished by it, and the cycle of crime tells the tale o 
this battle. It begins in early life, and then the strife is 
noisy. The sound is often in the air, and strikes on 
every, ear; wherever children congregate, it is heard 
in the plainest words ; but the familiar ■ phraseology 
passes unnoticed, although it may announce a tendency 
of the darkest character. 

In the next stage the struggle is invisible, and silent > 



122 THE SIXTH WORK. 

but it is there. ' ' The tug of war " is come. Unlawful 
self-indulgence is obtained, in spite of many a prick 
and dart from within ; but the Will gains the victory ; 
and it rolls along triumphantly, bearing its spoils into 
a horrible abyss — the Man in his best years. 

As age advances, the tyrant loosens his grasp. Ex- 
perience teaches even fools; and, at length, the Will listens 
to reason. With desire enfeebled, the elders decline 
the combat, and retire from a field where all for which 
they fought, has been ignominiously lost. The old 
rarely commit crime. Some few may be seen in prisons ; 
and they are ghastly spectacles, indeed. The gaunt 
shadows of the demon Will, linger round them , and its 
malefic power is pursuing them to the last. 

Crime, in its cycle, has other influences beside age ; 
locality, and occupations affect it. 

It prevails differently in different districts, as the fol- 
lowing table shows : — 

The crimes committed last year, amounted to, 

In the Metropolis - - - - 13,529 

„ Pleasure Towns - - - - 666 

,, Towns depending upon Agricultural Districts - 396 
„ Commercial Ports - 5,282 

„ Seats of the Cotton and Linen Manufacture - 8,861 



OCCUPATIONS AND " NO OCCUPATION.'"' 123 

In the Seats of the Woollen and Worsted Manufacture - 1,272 

Seats of the Small and Mixed Textile Fabrics - 619 

Seats of the Hardware Manufacture - - 1,272 

Eastern Counties - 1,463 

South and South- Western Counties - - 1,259 

Midland Counties - 1,225 

In employments crime also exercises a selection, and it 
is modified by them, as well as by the other circumstances, 
to which we have alluded. Occupations, and " no 
occupation " qualify it curiously ; and the varying sorts 
of these have their peculiar effect, according to laws as 
occult as those that govern all the differences of species, 
tribes, and families that are displayed in the kingdom of 
nature. 

Last year the criminals were thus returned : — 

21,949 - No occupation 

4,305 - Domestic servants 

59,887 - Labourers, charwomen, needlewomen 

6,485 - Factory workers 

23,847 - Mechanics and skilled workers 

137 - Foremen and overlookers of labour 

1,558 - Shopmen, shop women, clerks, &c. 

3,716 - Shopkeepers and dealers 

233 - Professional employments 

3,937 - Sailors, mariners, soldiers 
952 - Occupations not ascertained 



124 THE SIXTH WORK. 

From the materials which we have collected may be 
constructed the cycle of crime ; its shape and form ascer- 
tained, its gravity and its motion calculated. 

Our utmost strain of intellect may not prevail to lighten 
its ponderance, to change its course, nor to stay its 
progress ; it may go on to the last, working destruction 
and misery ; but its deadly operation is not inevitable 
as regards individuals. These, at all ages, in all places, 
under all circumstances, may possibly "be plucked as 
brands from the burning.-" 

The cycle may continue uninterruptedly ; but they can 
be rescued. It may resist all attempts to arrest its pro- 
gress ; but there is no law to prevent the removal of its 
victims from its control. Our work, as Christians, is to 
draw them out of the revolving circles, whenever an oppor- 
tunity offers, and, "by all means, to save some/'' The body 
may replenish, and sustain its constitution and vitality, 
the criminal, like the poor, shall be ever with us ; but 
speculations on the increase or decrease of the class do 
not affect our duty with regard to its members. 

The utility of examining the cycle of crime is merely 
that we may derive instruction, as to where and how our 
business with, and for prisoners may be done. It is 



ATTENTION AND ENDEAVOUR. 125 

important to know the secrets of their nature, temper, 
and habits, as revealed in the statements to which we 
have access, concerning their age and persistence in 
guilt. These points must guide our efforts to aid 
them. 

The slight sketch here given, is intended to suggest 
thought on the subject, and to interest rather than to 
inform. 

The more consideration the matter obtains, the more 
obvious it will be, that practical acquaintance with it can 
only be acquired by experiment ; and that to pursue this 
beneficially, the state and the wants of a special class 
should be the object of distinct attention and endeav- 
our. 

In order to provide an opportunity of attempting this, 
we shall take the case of criminal women, and examine 
it separately, in the following chapter. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

Jxmale ||ns0jwr» rati* t\txx Jifalfe. 

Kepugnance of Good Women to Bad . . Shocking Tales . . One of the 
Worst Cases. .A Fair Account. .Human Uprightness and Ami- 
ability not Objectionable. .Conversion not Superseded. .Peculiar 
Influence .. Transformation .. Symptom of Disease. .Women's 
Organization . . Brutalizing Treatment . . Female Criminals fewer 
than Male.. Their Crimes Different .." No Occupation ".. The 
Judicial Catalogue . . Petty Thefts . . Foundation of Female Dig- 
nity . . A New Trial . . Conversations with Peter . . Provision against 
Immorality . . Conviction . . Characteristic Concealment . . Sensa- 
tions Personal . . Ladies' Duty . . Discrimination and Guidance . . 
The " Cloak " . .Eestored Cases. .Supervision Circle. .Dangerous 
Familiarity with Scripture . . Delusion . . Distorted Minds. 

The difficulty of interesting good women in the cir- 
cumstances of the criminal members of their own sex 
is very great. There is a strong repugnance to having 
anything to do with them, which stretches even to an 
objection to know anything about them ; and we can- 
not be surprised at this, because the details that are, 
from time to time, published concerning them, are calcu- 
lated to convey a very disagreeable and revolting im- 
pression to virtuous minds. 



SHOCKING TALES. 127 

Tales like the following are very shocking ; and they 

have produced a discouraging effect on all effort for 

these unhappy people : — 

Mrs. Howe, warder of the House of Correction, Westminster, 
detailed the following history of the prisoner, Ann Smith. She 
was sentenced to two calendar months' imprisonment, for as- 
saulting the master and matron of St. Giles's Workhouse and 
inflicting grievous bodily harm, at Bow-street Police Court, 20th 
September, 1855. While she was undergoing that imprison- 
ment her behaviour was very violent. Because a female warder 
offended her in some way, she seized hold of her thumb and 
put it in her mouth and nearly bit it through. The blood 
from the warder's thumb turned her sick and she let go her 
hold, or she would have bitten the thumb off. For that of- 
fence she was brought before the visiting justices of the prison, 
and adjudged to be further imprisoned for the space of six 
months, with hard labour. While serving that sentence she 
violently assaulted her (Mrs. Howe), scratched her face, and 
tore several handfuls of hair from her head, and was very 
troublesome in prison. She was again brought before the 
prison authorities, and sentenced to one month's imprisonment 
and twenty days' solitary confinement. These repeated 
punishments did not appear to have had any salutary effect 
upon her, for in 1857 a police-constable heard a disturbance in 
Drury-lane, and upon going up found the prisoner, and several 
others, tormenting a poor idiot boy. The constable in a very 
humane manner took the imbecile from their clutches, and 
had him conveyed to the workhouse. The prisoner waited for 
the constable, and went slily up to him and stabbed him in 



128 THE SIXTH WORK. 

the neck with a penknife several times, and also scratched his 
face with the knife, and from those injuries the constable 
nearly lost his life. The prisoner was taken before a magis- 
trate, and was obliged to be handcuffed during the examina- 
tion, and committed for trial. She was tried and found guilty 
at the Central Criminal Court, and sentenced to be kept in 
penal servitude for ten years. While she was serving that 
sentence she gave the prison authorities a great deal of trouble, 
in consequence of her very violent disposition. 

The matron of Brixton Prison said the prisoner was sen- 
tenced to six months' imprisonment for an assault, in addition 
to what had been already proved against her. Her conduct 
in prison was bad and refractory. 

The prisoner, during this evidence, behaved in the most un- 
becoming manner, sneering at and interrupting the witnesses, 
and was requested over and over again to be quiet. To this 
she replied with an oath. She said to the witness Howe, 
" Only wait, Mrs. Howe, until I get you at Westminster. I 
will give your head such a dashing against the wall." 

A Notorious Character. — At the Worship-street Police- 
court, London, on Monday, Elizabeth Durant, a woman of 
middle age, was charged before Mr. Cooke with wilful damage 
and assaults on the police. The prisoner's sister, who is a 
small shopkeeper in Bethnal-green, having stated that yester- 
day afternoon she was compelled to give her into custody for 
demolishing five panes of glass in her window without the 
slightest provocation, Mr. Cooke asked — Is this woman known ? 
Prisoner — Oh, yes ; I've been here a million times. I know 
you very well. You are a respectable gentleman. Horn, 242 



ONE OP THE WORST CASES. 129 

%, said — Yesterday, about three o'clock, the prisoner was given 
into my custody for wilful damage. She was quite sober, but 
fearfully violent. She flung a gingerbeer bottle at me, struck 
me, and tore my coat, rolled herself in the mud, and it required 
seven constables to convey her on the stretcher to BethnaL 
green station-house, where directly she was released she tore 
every garment from her person, and could not be prevented. 
€hadwick, 350 K, said— I went to my brother officer's assis- 
tance. Knowing her desperate character, she was not left 
alone the whole night. Prisoner here uttered the most hor- 
rible language, and called her sister the vilest names. When 
tired of this, the constable under examination stated that she 
at the time in question had an infant about three months old 
in her arms, which she actually flung at them, but it was un- 
injured, in consequence of a gentleman who was looking on 
providentially catching it. The person was not present, but 
the child, who was in the arms of an officer, looked more dead 
than alive. After some further evidence as to the horrible 
habits and character of this wretched creature, Mr. Cooke 
said— I shall send you to prison. Prisoner (interrupting) — 
I'll tear up my things, if you do. "i Mr. Cooke — For one 
month on each charge of assault. Prisoner instantly 
endeavoured to keep her word, and had partly divested herself 
of the fresh habiliments which had, per necessity, been 
supplied to her, before she could be stayed. Bendall, the 
gaoler, at length got her into the court-yard, but not without 
assistance, where she again gave utterance to yells and curses . 
Immediately she was placed in a cell the gaoler informed Mr. 
Cooke that she had twice rapidly tried to strangle herself 
with her garters, that she used such force to accomplish the 

K 



130 THE SIXTH WOEK. 

act that she rendered her features black in an instant, and that 
had he not been present she must have died. He was com- 
pelled to bring her from the cell, and she was lying on the 
stones of the court-yard. At this moment threats and curses 
of the same shocking nature as had before been heard burst 
upon the ears of those in court, and it became necessary to 
handcuff her and send her in a cab to the prison. The infant 
was removed to the workhouse. 

Similar narratives frequently come before the public. 
The histories of women who lead lives of horrible crime, 
suffer frequent imprisonments, and are known to be 
determined to continue in sin of an aggravated character, 
are those that are most familiar to the public. They 
obtain a terrible notoriety, through the deplorable fact, 
that even such " sensation " as they supply is popular. 
In order to pander to the depraved taste for this kind of 
news, the daily papers make the most of every case out 
of which anything of the sort can be produced ; and by 
this means, a very exaggerated idea of the whole class of 
female prisoners has been set afloat. 

It cannot be denied that there are some among them, 
whose conduct may have given grounds for the descrip- 
tions that have been circulated — descriptions that seem 
to be applicable only to fiends ; and that can scarcely 






A FAIR ACCOUNT. 131 

be credited to belong to anything human. The Prison 
Matron, a book purporting to depict the interior of our 
most important female prison, ran in the same groove; 
and it has helped to deepen the aversion to the unfortu- 
nate convict woman. 

Neither this book, nor the newspaper statements, 
give a fair account of criminal women, because they 
single out individuals, and present them as types of the 
whole body ; while those that they select are really only 
extreme cases, of a peculiar character, which is confined 
to a very small section of the number. The consequence 
of propagating a false impression about these women is, 
that the difficulty of assisting the deserving among them, 
has greatly increased. This is felt by those who interest 
themselves in efforts to benefit them ; and it is, there- 
fore, desirable that some explanation should be rendered, 
that may serve to clear away the injurious misconception 
that exists. 

Matters connected with them are bad enough, but 
they are not in the irremediable state that seems to be 
popularly supposed. 

As we stated in our opening chapters, religious work 
does not prosper in prisons, nor generally among the 



132 THE SIXTH WORK. 

criminal women class outside ; and, because this is the 
case, religious people rarely think of attempting to im- 
prove their morals, and manners. It is wrong to believe 
that this is entirely impossible, for many instances can 
be given of women who have " ceased to do evil/' in the 
sense of outward offence; and these should not be 
despised, nor the principle on which they are reformed 
rejected. 

Tor many years, we have been convinced that it 
was our duty to promote moral effort among women 
in prison ; and to value it in them, as we do in others. 
This effort, which is but another name for the self-restraint 
that is exercised by many, who make no profession what- 
ever of religious feeling, and whose conduct and character 
commands our respect, for just what it is — human up- 
rightness and amiability — can never be objectionable. 
If poor women, who have committed crime, and tasted 
its ill consequences, can be induced to try to live in a 
better way, it should be an interesting task to aid them, 
and so far from its being avoided by Christian ladies, 
ought to be sought by them. Indeed, we are satisfied 
that it would be, if they could only be assured that it 
was practicable. 



CONVEHSlON not superseded. 133 

Pacts attest that it is ; and if it were as prudent, as 
it would be triumphant, to relate the details of cases in 
which success has been attained, we could give very 
powerful evidence in support of the assertion. 

Now, it must be clearly understood, that this is no 
attempt to supersede evangelical teaching and exhortation 
with regard to spiritual concerns ; nor is it a proposal to 
suspend energetic endeavour to procure conversion, It is 
rather for the purpose of encouraging the secondary work 
of moral effort, to be done at the same time with the 
primary, and side by side with it; and to urge on 
Christians its prosecution, with some degree of ac- 
tivity. 

This never can be done while so strong an opinion 
prevails, as is known to be generally entertained among 
them, that these women never do, and never can, 
become moral, unless they are converted, and come un- 
der the power of religion. This is so far from being the 
case, that it can be proved, that the majority of those 
who " go and sin openly no more ; " and who do not 
re-appear in prison several times, but rejoin the ranks of 
the well-conducted, do so on the mere ground of worldly 
policy, and not from a sense of obligation to the Saviour, 
and desire to serve and please Him. It is also some- 



134 THE SIXTH WOEK. 

what remarkable, that the small number who really 
enter into this new relation and covenant with Grod, are 
usually from among the very worst subdivision of the 
criminal class. 

Those whose violent and desperate conduct places 
them beyond the pale of all human agency, seem 
to be the very instances in which the Holy Spirit 
most frequently shows His power. The cases we 
referred to elsewhere,, and all the others that we have 
known, with many of those we have heard, have 
been of tins kind. Their reception of the Christian 
appeal to the sinner's feelings confirms the words of our 
Lord, " they that be whole need not a physician, but 
they that are sick/ J They are the truly miserable and 
sin-sick to whom His gracious words come with force. 
When they, in their quick, excitable temperament, are 
touched by remorse, and stung by memory, conjured up 
by some, it may be inadvertent, word that reaches a 
tender spot in their sensibilities, no description of peo- 
ple are so susceptible, nor are any other converts more 
steady or earnest in their after-lives. But this is a 
matter whch cannot be calculated on ; though it may 
be looked for, prayed for, and every means used that 
could conduce to it. 



PECULIAR INFLUENCE. 135 

While such blessing is the object of hope, there are 
advantages to be derived from moral treatment that have 
been effective even in these extreme circumstances. 

A Justice was recently visiting a prison, when 
some well-known and very refractory women were 
being committed. They immediately commenced their 
usual bad conduct, and exhibited an extraordinary 
amount of wickedness. He was proceeding to give the 
customary directions for their treatment, when a lady, 
who had been visiting in the wards of the establishment, 
and was about to leave, approached the gate, near which 
the fierce group was gathered. She was known to most 
of its constituents, who had been frequently in the same 
prison, and had often been addressed by her, in the 
persuasive tones of Christian love. The sight of her was 
magical, on this occasion. The voices that had been 
hoarse with screaming were silent, and only a whisper 
was heard among them, to the effect, that they would 
" give in until was gone." 

Perceiving the effect of her presence, the lady asked 
leave to speak to them ; and, with very few words, be- 
yond a request to them to be quiet and obedient, urged 
with a modest reason or two, she induced them to sub- 
mit to the d^Vipline of the occasion. 



136 THE SIXTH WORK, 

The magistrate, whose function was thus superseded, 
went, in a few days, to ascertain the result of this inter- 
vention ; and learned that none of them had " broken 
out " and that their kind friend had paid them a daily 
visit, and had managed to maintain her control over them. 

This lady's evidence is, that, on this, and all other like 
occasions, she used very gentle, but very plain language, 
with these viragos ; and that she has generally had full 
sway over them ; and that there has been not only re- 
spectful demeanour to her face, but in her absence, 
under the impression of her instruction. 

This influence operated on a symptom of a disease ; 
and it had a Certain amount of success. The value of 
this success does not lie in the transient benefit, but in 
the clue given to the seat of the disorder. The mani- 
festation to which the remedy was applied by the lady 
is a mere paroxysm, an attack dependent on a state of 
vice, which is discernible on the easiest investigation, 
and manageable by a continued system of moral control. 
It is a condition that ought to be, by this time, thoroughly 
understood by those whose duty it is to deal with persons 
affected by it. 

The peculiarities of women's organization must be 



137 

taken into account, in every consideration of the nature 
and circumstances of their lives ; and in relation to their 
crimes more than in any other case connected with 
them. 

The strange, subtle associations of their nervous sys- 
tem, with its irritative, excitable action — their weak 
muscular development — their circulation easily dis- 
turbed — the centre of their sensation trembling on a 
pivot, the balance of which the slightest hair's weight 
can move — are all so many forces in aid of the rule of 
morality. Under right direction they cease to be dan- 
gerous, and became the seat of a protective power. The 
slightness of the influence that serves to turn women 
one way or the other, makes it doubly interesting to 
find out that which shall the most surely and steadily 
induce them to maintain a state of propriety. 

Prison-treatment, so far from having this effect, 
at present may be fairly accused of promoting the 
evil. The punishments of women by irons and hand- 
cuffs have increased during the past year* ; and it is 
brutalizing and disgraceful, that men in this advanced 

* Jud. Stat, page 34. 



138 THE SIXTH WORK. 

age of intelligence should bring physical strength, instead 
of moral effort to their aid. 

It is a grave mistake to suppose that but bodily coercion 
is practicable in this case ; but it is a mistake with which 
it is very difficult to deal. It rests on a prevalent notion 
of female incapability, which, while it is perfectly true in 
other respects, is wrong as regards morals. In this 
matter, facts are all in their favour. While they exceed 
men in number in the population, there are two-thirds 
more male criminals than female ; and the nature of the 
offences that women commit differ materially from 
those of men. The vast majority of women resist the 
self-indulgence of crime, and lead lives of sacrifice and 
restraint. There is, truly, a great power in them to do 
this ; and when a loss of this power is betrayed, the cause 
may be generally seen in the social circumstances and 
other collateral matters relating to the offender. 

Under the heading, " No occupation," in the account 
of the various states of life from which malefactors 
come, the history of much of the sin into which women 
fall might be written.' Forty-six per cent, of those who get 
into prison are from this great division of the community; 
and the dispersion of it is an effort that must accompany 



THE JUDICIAL CATALOGUE. 139 

any attempt, to improve the moral condition of criminal 
women. Next to the idle come the over-worked, poor 
needlewomen, &c. Twenty-nine per cent, of these break 
down under their temptations. Few domestic servants., 
and less still from higher employments, are named in the 
judicial catalogue. 

Women's offences are chiefly petty thefts ; and they 
indicate the existence of a great amount of real, and of 
some artificial wants. A habit of picking and stealing 
in the low trading class, and a desire to gratify a love of 
dress in the better placed, urges to the robberies of which 
they are convicted; and then come the acts of passion 
to which drink and bad- temper incite them. The latter 
form an awful array of transgressions against feminine 
virtues ; and are the crimes that give the prisoner class 
their peculiar character. Dishonesty is almost over- 
looked in them in comparison with other immoralities. 
The well-known strength of the restraints that they over- 
leap, in order to commit the other class of offences is 
the foundation of a condemnation, on the part of the 
virtuous of their own sex, which is due to a sense of 
offended dignity, as well as to a respect for the law 
that is broken. This raises a barrier against the 



140 THE SIXTH WOEK. 

re-admittance of the guilty to social equality, which is a 
legitimate defence for the innocent members of the com- 
munity. 

The charity which accords them a new trial is quite 
another thing. There is a warrant for opening the door 
to the criminal again, and again, after every conviction. 
Whatever may be the result of the action, it is, at least, 
a fulfilment of the law of Christ. He gave us a rule to 
guide our conduct with regard to this class, in the 
memorable conversation with Peter : " Then came Peter 
to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin 
against me, and I forgive him ? till seven times ? Jesus 
saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times : 
but, Until seventy times seven." 

Our social duties to offenders of every sort are defined 
there very distinctly. The "sister" is not excepted. 
Her very weakness adds a plea ; but it is meaningless 
beside the sublime motive supplied in the common prayer 
of Christendom, and in the Apostle's words : " even as 
God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you/' 

The teaching of Jesus in this case requires some 
study. It points to other considerations as well as to 
forgiveness. It implies that the offender is to be convicted. 



' 



PROVISION AGAINST IMMORALITY. 141 

This is the office of governmental justice, which is not 
to be frustrated ; and with which there is to be co-opera- 
tion, on the part of society ; and, having performed this, 
the second direction regards the use of the quality of 
mercy. 

Very full and most interesting suggestions are given 
by our Lord in a previous lesson, to which it is useful 
to refer. Matthew v., from the 38th to the 48th verse, 
contains minute instructions applicable to this case. One 
of the rules laid down specially shows how much must be 
done, in order to observe the spirit of the Saviour's law, 
and to carry into effect its gracious intentions towards 
transgressors. The seventy- sevenfold offender is not to 
be merely suffered ; and repeated injuries are not to re- 
main simply unavenged. There is to be an effort made 
to prevent the recurrence of sin : " If a man sue thee at 
the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak 
also/' This binds us to make provision against further 
immorality. It means that we are not only to protect 
ourselves from future encroachment on the part of the 
unjust, but that the depredator is to be given "the 
cloak/'' or whatever it may be, that will thoroughly 
supply his craving; and this is to be done cheerfully — 



142 THE SIXTH WORK. 

as a gift — " not grudgingly nor of necessity, for the Lord 
loveth a cheerful giver." 

This treatment, akin to that which heaps coals of 
fire on an enemy's head, is very different from what is 
usually accorded to criminals by us. Our habits are at 
direct variance with our Lord's directions in the matter. 
To go no farther than the case of the domestic servant, 
who on suspicion is frequently dismissed, and not con- 
victed. Conviction, the first duty, is often avoided, the 
trouble and disagreeability of it forming excuses. These 
futile, reasons, it is to be feared, sometimes hide the real 
dread that is commonly entertained of the process of 
truth finding, which is shunned as a test of verbal 
accuracy, in a manner discreditable to those who range, 
in popular estimation, high above the despised criminal 
ranks. 

The practice of not verifying suspicions is most per- 
nicious. It fosters them in the mind in which they 
originate, and they operate unfairly on the object of 
them. Eew see the importance of conviction, and, there- 
fore, it is a neglected act. Many positively believe it to 
be unchristian; and under this impression decline to 



CONVICTION. 143 

perform it. This mistake is corrected by the instructions 
in the passage to which we have referred ; and it would 
be well to take its lesson as the basis of our proceedings 
with regard to those women with whom we come in 
contact, who give us reason to doubt their honesty. It 
is thoroughly Christian to make sure of the offence, and 
not to rest suspecting and imagining it ; for it is the 
only way in which we can practice forgiveness and moral 
suasion. This course does not imply that we are instantly 
to institute criminal proceedings in each case, in which 
we have doubts as to moral conduct; on the contrary, 
it should lead to the weighing carefully of these doubts ; 
and to the avoidance of such risk as that of being con- 
victed in turn, of a breach of the greatest law of all, the 
sacred commandment of charity. 

In the case of the female prisoner, all this most difficult 
part of the work is done. The woman is convicted. 
Those who desire to engage in the Christian work of 
helping her, have only to discover the nature of her crime, 
and to study her character. In this great thoroughness of 
action is required ; and it is seldom faithfully undertaken. 
Without the most particular individualization, it is 



144 THE SIXTH WORK. 

impossible to do it; and in order to carry this out, it is 
indispensable that an agency should be fitted to come 
into close contact with the criminal. 

This is the only way to affect women's minds. They 
do not naturally recognise themselves as part of any 
mass that may be addressed. All their sensations are 
individual and special, never general and diffuse. That 
which they receive as an influence must be directed per- 
sonally to each one, or they will neither understand nor 
admit it. To reach them successfully, their characteristic 
concealment must be carefully approached, and truth and 
candour earnestly sought. All the modes used for dealing 
with such women should promote the exhibition of these. 
It is worth any trouble to secure them, for having 
done SO; all further effort to comprehend the case and 
to aid it will be easy. 

Women, who have any desire to do well, do not with- 
hold this confidence; and when it is gained, half the 
battle is done with their criminal tendencies. 

Societies which propose to aid female prisoners can 
only be efficacious, in so far as they to perform this 
close personal service. 

It is greatly to be deplored that too few among 



ladies' duty. 145 

orthodox Christian ladies engage themselves in this way. 
No work so peculiarly demands their labour. Its re- 
quirements are just those which they are specially able 
to supply. They are naturally appointed to deal with 
the crime of their own section of the community ; and 
whenever they do so, their effort is eminently productive 
of good. 

Some of them who give themselves up to prison- visiting; 
and to the aid of female prisoners on discharge, find, that 
to accomplish any beneficial result, there is much absorp- 
tion of their faculties. The labour is exacting. Once 
a case is really taken in hand, it must be pursued ; and 
the progress of it is attended generally with several 
processes. The responsibility attached to the duty 
undertaken is great. It involves all the pains that can be 
taken to secure the moral improvement of the criminal ; 
and this brings with it numerous considerations. The 
difficulty of finding employment, situations, and associa- 
tions, in which the smallest amount of moral risk may be 
encountered, is only known to those who try to render 
such assistance to the ex-prisoner woman. She might 
be easily placed, if it were wise to suffer her to wander 
through society, without discrimination and guidance. 



146 THE SIXTH WORK. 

.Failure in attending to this matter occasions many a re- 
conviction; and leaves the object of intended help as 
ill off as if no such advantage were proposed. Careful 
selection of circumstances, for those of the class who 
crave such assistance, may be the giving of the " cloak/' 
in the truest possible sense. 

It is intensely interesting to observe how efforts 
progress towards this end. Sometimes, it is difficult 
to find anything to suit, though we seek it with 
all our skill. Occasionally, the mythic raiment is un- 
searchable; and never comes to hand; but leaves the 
wandering mind, to go back to its sin. Under such 
disappointment it is a comfort to think that we have 
looked for the " cloak/' and that it is not our fault, 
if it has not been found. In case of its not fitting 
and not being accepted, it is equally happy, when we 
can record that we have, at least, offered it. All that 
this implies has to be encountered in trying to engage 
in this branch* of the sixth work; and it requires an 
amount of endurance and self-control, which no other 
duty demands. The effort to believe that there is, in 
most cases, " a cloak/' is the first great difficulty to. 
get over. The next step is to bring to the culprit 
that which shall be as a " cloak " to her, and afford 



THE "■ CLOAK." 147 

her such relief and help as it expresses ; but the means 
of attempting this are necessarily various and peculiar. 
It is not possible to give any regular account of them ; 
but a few cases may illustrate some of the modus operandi 
of the proceeding. 

A. T., had passed a long imprisonment with 
great credit; and at the end of it manifested 
great anxiety about her future life; and entreated 
help, in the most earnest manner. Her strongly ex- 
pressed determination to avoid crime was affecting. It 
was not mingled with any profession of religious feeling 
but merely declared her aversion to the deeds of sin, 
in which she had been engaged, previous to her detec- 
tion ; and her intense dislike to the association, and com- 
panionship, into which they had introduced her. She 
was a married woman; and the crime for which she was 
suffering had been committed at the instigation of her 
husband, who had contrived to elude the pursuit of justice. 
Her dread of encountering him was the most distressing 
exhibition of horror, and revolted feeling that could be 
described. In several interviews, she expressed this 
so genuinely, that it excited the deepest sympathy ; 
and she was promised aid in avoiding him. 



148 THE SIXTH WORK. 

She had been a housemaid, in a gentleman's family ; 
and had borne a good character previous to her marriage, 
There was some difficulty in procuring a situation for 
her, for the whole of her tale had to be told, in order 
to secure for her the kind interest of a Christian employer. 
One such, however, offered ; and arrangements were 
made to convey her to the house,- in which there was a 
prospect of a suitable asylum, so long as she should 
remain unmolested by the man whose interference she 
so greatly apprehended. 

She had not been a week in her new situation before 
he made his appearance, enforced his right, and carried 
her away. She has since been found living in one of 
the worst localities in London; and was visited by a 
missionary, who devotes herself to such work, and the 
circumstances in which she is living are pitiable in the 
extreme. Her husband is a dealer in stolen goods ; and 
she is compulsorily employed assisting him, in his 
trade. She may be seen from time to time, and urged 
to try and keep from crime, but is it not asking the 
impossible ? It is well to find her still open to feeling 
on the subject ; and awake to the evil with which she is 
surrounded. 

S. B., aged 20, was several times in prison, but has 



RESTORED CASES. 149 

become very anxious to reform ; and for six months has 
not committed a breach of the law. 

Her parents are not well conducted ; but are willing 
to receive her. She is employed at needlework, aird is 
thankful for visits and advice. 

E. B., aged 33, a factory hand. She was a clever 
thief, bat has been behaving honestly for some three 
years; and during the time has been frequently conversed 
with by ladies who have been interested in her since her 
imprisonment. 

A former criminal, who has been for some years going 
on respectably, is described in the following testimonial ; 
and such cases are the best arguments in favour of the 
moral effort of female ex-prisoners : — 

" has filled the situation of head nurse in the 

County Hospital for nearly two years. She is 

about to leave, as she is looking for another appoint- 
ment, I have much pleasure in bearing testimony 
to her capability as a nurse. She is kind, painstaking, 
and skilful, and I have always found her ready to carry 
out any instructions with diligence and care. The 
patients have repeatedly expressed to me their grateful 
sense of her kindness and attention to them. 

" I am sure she will always use her best exertions to 



150 THE SIXTH WOEK. 

discharge the duties of any situation, she may obtain, 
to the satisfaction of her employers.'" 

The continued supervision of those who are endeavour- 
ing to maintain a moral position is a plan which is found 
to work most effectively. Several friends who, some 
years ago, formed a circle for the purpose, and keep it 
up by correspondence, find it a useful instrumentality, 
and believe it has been blessed to the finding of many 
"a cloak, 3i although they do not know of its having 
been the means of bringing to any the great robe of 
everlasting righteousness. They do not restrict them- 
selves to the temporal interests of their protegees ; but 
they pursue the moral effort very ardently; and they 
endeavour to make its nature distinctly understood by 
those they address. 

It is found that women, who have been for any length 
of time in prison, are generally made very familiar with 
Scripture, and become well acquainted with the doctrines 
of religion. When these have no vital influence on 
them, it is not unfrequently discovered that they mis- 
lead them, and occasion some very serious disadvantages. 
Criminals are generally proud, as may be assumed from 
their abuse of the I Will ; and when they are addressed 



DELUSION. 151 

continuously in words applicable only to the common 
assembly of Christians, from which they are separated 
for discipline and correction, they become puffed up into 
a dignity that does not belong to them. 

A lady, who has many opportunities of conversing 
with some who have been years frequently coming under 
this teaching, finds that many of them insist that, they 
are the subjects of Divine grace, whose ways do not 
testify that it reigns over their hearts. It is true that 
this delusion prevails in ordinary society occasionally too ; 
but it is peculiarly trying, to meet it in a place where 
such a blunder is more glaringly apparent, and more 
dangerous in its consequences. The painstaking care 
of the chaplains and teachers to be as accurate as possible 
in the letter of their teaching, seems of little avail 
against this very serious mischief. 

It operates in the most powerful manner in repressing 
moral effort : — 

"You mean to do as well as you can, I hope, and 
not to drink or steal when you go out. Will you be a 
teetotaler ? " was said to one, who, after her second 
term of imprisonment, was about to leave. 

" Yes ; there's no fear of me now ; with God's help 



152 THE SIXTH WORK. 

I can do anything. His grace is sufficient for me. As 
my day so shall my strength be. Fll make no promises, 
1 don't want them. Nothing can upset me. I can do 
all things through Christ that strengthened me." 

And this, while she was showing active opposition to 
the regulations under which she was being discharged ; 
and strongly objecting to the supervision of the police, 
which she knew should occur on her being set at 
liberty 1 

It is very difficult to convey correct ideas to minds so 
distorted and perverted as those to be met in prison; 
and the amount of knowledge on spiritual concerns that 
they may attain, without the least real benefit, is perfectly 
surprising. This is not an argument against the use of 
such an acquisition ; but it should lead to careful effort 
to guard against its abuse. Any means whereby a distinct 
and positive line can be drawn between religious convic- 
tion and moral reformation, is to be regarded as a valu- 
able auxiliary to even the work of the evangelist. 

A contrivance which has done some service will be 
detailed in the following chapter, and cannot fail to 
interest and engage sympathy. 



CHAPTER IX. 

Impetus given by Temperance Movement. . Teetotalism a Blessing; 
. . No Apologist Required . . Disparities between Dishonesty and 
Intemperance . . Serious Elements . . Voluntary Honesty Pledge . . 
Tenderness of Conscience . . Application to Family Life . .Adoption 
in Schools . . Regular Institution in an Industrial School . . No 
Experience Telling " . .The Mettray Ring. .Utility of a Token 
. .Stimulating Publicity. .Working-Men's Opinion. .Bricklayer 
and Labourer .. Special Meetings .. Religious Movement .. Con - 
verted Criminals' Association . . Addresses to Specified Malefactors 
. . Bracing the Young Mind . . Rudimentary Method . . Vows . . 
Ancient Practice . . Small Sense of Integrity . . Upright Commer- 
cial Transactions .. A Check in Time..M. C. and her Sister.. 
J. S.'s Moral Difficulties .. Capability of Ex- Criminals. .Testi- 
mony to Honesty Pledge .. Government Agency. .Women's 
Need. .Registration Desirable. .Simple Machinery. -Mr. Recorder 
Hill's Conclusion. .The Sixth Work Blessed. 

Among the early effects of the temperance movement, 
was the impetus which was given to the exhibition of self- 
restraint. This power had been sleeping in the matter of 
intoxicating drink, when it was startlingly aroused by the 
advocates of teetotalism; and was called into action by 
the simple act of administering the pledge. 

The sin of drunkennes s was attacked by the plain and 



154 THE SIXTH WORK. 

almost forgotten force of moral suasion, and a great 
inroad made upon its border. 

Personal influence exerted itself greatly in tins pro- 
ceeding ; and it is amply rewarded in the fruit of the 
enterprise. It is surprising how well and rapidly it acts 
in this case, bending as it will those who are not moved 
by the desire to please their Heavenly Father and 
Almighty Friend, but who can be induced to become 
temperate in order to secure advantages of infinitely 
smaller value, than the perfect salvation offered by His 
grace. 

The appeal of the virtuous to drunkards is well-known 
to be very efficacious. It reforms many of those whom 
it addresses ; and it checks the progress of the vice, not 
only by the conversion of individuals to sobriety, but by 
preventing numbers from falling into the transgression, 
and from entering on a career of habitual intoxication. 
This fact makes teetotalism a blessing to the community, 
and records its value in imperishable fame. 

The benefit that accrues from bringing into active energy 
in our social connections, a power which exercises direct 
effort to remove special offences from us, is inestimable. It 
is a cleansing, purifying work, and deserves our heartiest 
co-operation. "We must endeavour to drive off all 



NO APOLOGIST REQUIRED. 155 

the evil that we can, however it is to be done; and 
where we cannot introduce the principle of holiness, we 
may prevail in establishing external morality. 

The nature of the instrumentality used by teeto- 
talers—the promise, solemnly made, signed and sworn, 
has been very much controverted. It is accused of 
endeavouring to displace the true motive to righteous- 
ness; and of threatening to substitute an artificial 
for a real reason for well-doing. But there is a 
practical demonstration given by the work accom- 
plished, which fully answers all opponents. It is seen 
that the temperance pledge is no supplanter, but that 
it is a bond fide agency, engaged in a distinct under- 
taking of its own ; and not interfering, in any way, with 
the labour of the Christian ministry, the preaching of 
which it supplements and enforces. Nor is it an un- 
worthy aide-de-camp. It proves itself daily a great 
assistance in drawing together, and inducing many to 
come within reach of Gospel teaching, who, other- 
wise, would be inaccessible to its most searching 
efforts. 

The scheme, now in full life and vigour, supported by 
its own vitality, requires no apologist. Its interesting 
suggestions produced an idea, which, some time ago, 



156 THE SIXTH WORK. 

originated the application of a similar course of action 
to another sort of offence; and an effort to enable persons 
prone to it to deal with their vicious inclinations in the 
same wav that those whose besetting; sin is intoxication 
are encouraged to do. 

An attempt to use the pledge as an engine for the 
repression of other manifestations of crime, beside 
excessive drink, was made some years past; and its 
operation has borne the test of time. 

There is some difficulty in adducing the facts which 
support this assertion; but general statements can be 
offered in evidence ; and they will carry conviction with 
them. There are great disparities between the cases of 
intemperance and dishonesty ; but enough similarity will 
be found to admit of their being treated in the same 
manner. It is not surprising that this is not commonly 
attempted, because of the peculiar risks attending the 
charge of theft. People cannot be spoken to about it 
as easily as about their habits of intemperance. 

The protection of the law is strongly given to preserve 
the character of trustworthiness; and this defence, 
which is so useful to the good and virtuous, occasionally 
aids the criminal in his evil ways. But there is found a 
possibility of working so as not to excite the functions 



SERIOUS ELEMENTS. 157 

of this enactment. Its guardian spirit can be respected, 
and its operation made increasingly beneficial, by a dis- 
creet interference with those whose title to the name it 
is intended to shield is fairly questionable. 

Direct communication has sometimes been held, under 
peculiar circumstances, with those who show a tendency to 
disregard the rights of property ; with delicacy and kind- 
ness, confidential intercourse on the subject of the 
betrayed weakness has been occasionally established. 
This intimacy has been found far more difficult to gain 
than the freest access to the mind and feeling of the 
drunkard, whose open transgression cannot be hidden ; 
and the nature of whose offence does not necessarily 
involve the interests of any besides the guilty person. 
When there is no second party to an act, and that it is 
an offence against morality, which merely hurts the actor, 
there is little impediment to the discussion of it; but 
when there is a complication of interests and persons, 
serious elements are added to the matter. 

Detection is an unpleasant circumstance to have to do 
with. Proof of guilt is, in itself, an intricate and 
tender item. We may have suspicions concerning dis- 
honesty in individual cases, but on surmise and conjecture 
there can never be any action taken. 



158 THE SIXTH WORK. 

It happened that just at the time that " taking the 
pledge " against alcoholic liquor was in the height of its 
popularity, a case of flagrant dishonesty occurred in the 
family of a lady, very much interested in the temperance 
cause. The household was addressed on the subject of 
the crime that had been committed by one of its inmates ; 
and the exhortation was closed with the words, " It is a 
pledge against theft, instead of drink, that is required in 
this house." 

The culprit immediately came forward and offered to take 
the promise thus suggested. There was an engagement 
drawn up, in form like the " temperance pledge," and it 
was taken, i.e. sworn, in the most solemn manner by the 
offender, and by one other person who acknowledged a 
similar infirmity. Both these were domestic servants, and 
the check was found very effective in their case. Tor many 
years neither were again complained of; and when, after a 
long time, one committed an act of dishonesty — of so com- 
mon a kind as to be seldom regarded in that light — 
she confessed it to her employer, and renewed the former 
vow with much apparent contrition. 

The practice of treating such offences in this manner, 
in the household referred to, became confirmed; and it was 



VOLUNTARY HONESTY PLEDGE. 159 

copied by others, until the rule came to be adopted by a 
circle of some extent. 

A great many persons are now known to mem- 
bers of it to have taken the honesty pledge, and 
to have kept it, on the whole, tolerably. There have 
been breaches of it, and there have been struggles to 
preserve its sacred agreement intact. Some of these 
have become known to the friend who instituted the 
plan; and many more, doubtless, are, though concealed 
from her, open to the All-seeing Eye. In this respect, 
the contrivance has not been differently received in the 
case of stealing from that of drinking. In the latter 
there are frequently breaches of engagement, rendering a 
case of perfect total abstinence exceedingly rare ; and, 
as might be expected, there must have been some failures 
on the Honesty Pledge ; but they have not been many, 
and none have occurred rendering the offenders amenable 
to justice. 

There has been a tenderness of conscience cultivated 
by means of it, which is excessively valuable. Though 
there were many difficulties in the way of making this 
scheme available for those who, under various circum- 
stances, have been found to need the check, it has been 



160 THE SIXTH WORK. 

used by several who approved of it, on hearing the 
result of its application in family life. 

In some schools it has been carried into effect. 
In one large industrial school there was a regularly in- 
stituted Honesty Pledge ; and the benefit it rendered to 
the pupils, and to the community, of which they are now 
members, cannot be calculated. Many a juvenile delin- 
quent was brought to a critical point in a vicious course, 
by being detected in theft, taught the nature of the act 
of crime committed, warned of its consequences, in- 
structed concerning the advantage of the moral effort to 
overcome temptation, and influenced to take the "pledge/' 
as a powerful help in so doing. 

It was done in several instances with effects that are 
discernible in the life of the promisers. They have not 
had the aid of association. Pellow-abstaiuers from steal- 
ing, cannot assemble and band themselves, as the teeto- 
talers do, nor can they have the excitement of hearing 
those " experiences " which, " as iron sharpeneth iron," 
benefits the members of temperance societies. 

The Honesty Pledge, as we practised it, was without 
these accessories; there was no system of connection 
between those who were pledged. The agreement was 



THE METTRAY RING. 161 

made formally in presence of only one person, and no 
account of the transaction was ever given to the school, 
nor even to those who themselves entered into it was it 
told, who the others were that had enrolled in the pledge 
list ; so that they had no means of recognising each other 
except by voluntary confession, and this they were some- 
times found to make. 

In consequence of what has since transpired in con- 
nection with this mode of action, it is regretted that some 
token or badge was not given like the gage bestowed on 
the colons at Mettray, who wore a ring, which is a 
sign of fraternity and alliance in maintaining morality. 

In an account of the Mettray Reformatory, given by 
Miss Florence Hill, at the Social Science Congress in 
Dublin, in the year 1861, honourable mention is made 
of the symbol of membership of IS Association cle la 
Colonie de Mettray, which is a ring : 

Inscribed within the hoop are the honoured names of 
De Metz and Bretigneres de Courteilles — the founders of 
the association — on either side of the words, Dieu, Hon- 
neur, Souvenir, Alliance, signifying- devotion to the will of 
God, and brotherly union among the members for mutual sup- 
port, and for the succour of the unfortunate, and reclamation of 
evil-doers. On the exterior is the legend, " Loyaute passe 
to ate," and two relievi, one representing a prison, before which 

M 



162 THE SIXTH WORK. 

crouches a youth, sunk in despair ; the other displaying the 
neat dwellings at Mettray, and a kneeling child, his eyes 
raised in gratitude to Heaven. An anecdote illustrating the 
spirit which animates the wearers of the ring, I may briefly 
relate. An artisan, having accomplished some work he had 
undertaken, and received payment, met a friend with whom 
he repaired to a public-house, where he soon became exceed- 
ingly tipsy. Starting on his way homewards along the bank 
of the river Marne, singing and dancing under the influence 
of drink, he ran against a young man who was walking 
rapidly in the opposite direction. The shock jerked off the 
cap of the drunken man, and it rolled into the river. He 
forthwith fell upon the innocent cause of the mishap, and 
pummelled him might and main. The other, perceiving he 
had to deal with an antagonist who had taken leave of his 
senses, parried the strokes as well as he could, preferring even 
to receive some hard blows rather than to hurt an opponent 
who was not master of himself. Other persons coming up 
put an end to the combat, and the stranger was peaceably 
pursuing his road when cries of " Help ! help ! ,f brought him 
back with all speed to the spot. The drunken artisan, in his 
efforts to regain his cap, had fallen into the water, and was 
struggling for life. None of the bystanders could swim. In 
a moment the young man had plunged, dressed as he was, 
into the river, and, after twice diving, had caught hold of the 
other, and deposited him safe and sound upon the bank. When 
the rest present had paid needful attention to the rescued man, 
quite sobered by his dip, all turned to thank and congratulate 
his generous preserver. He had departed, and was already 
out of sight, but upon the ground lay a ring which he must 



UTILITY OF A TOKEN, 163 

have dropped. It was recognised as the ring of the " Associa- 
tion de Mettray." 

In adopting the same course again, from the experience 
we have gained, and justified by the precedent of Met- 
tray, we should make use of some indication besides a 
written paper, likely to be destroyed, and should more 
closely imitate the original " pledge," and have a medal, 
or some such token of the act and deed ; and, moreover, 
we are now disposed to promote association as helpful 
and pleasant to the holders of it. Formerly, we believe 
that it would have deprived the proceeding of its sanctity 
to have broken its privacy, or to have made any com- 
munication between the parties holding the Honesty 
Pledge ; but latterly we have seen instances of volun- 
tary association for the purpose of affording the 
countenance and support of sympathy, and with un- 
doubtedly good results. 

The stimulating publicity of the labours of teetotalism 
keeps up the excitement of the workers, and forms no 
small element of its success. This is, of course, wholly 
inadmissible in the matter of the Honesty Pledge, but a 
movement not like it exactly in fact, but parallel in effect, 
might be managed. 



164 THE SIXTH WOEK. 

A short time ago, we were taught how this could be 
arranged. Some working men, who assemble for a 
religious purpose, were spoken to on the subject of 
taking promises against acts of crime, and they were 
unanimously in favour of it. It appeared that it was 
not by any means a novel proceeding to them. They 
were in the habit of practising it, and had never ques- 
tioned its legitimacy nor utility. Having been accus- 
tomed to the Temperance Pledge, and recognising its 
advantages, they had already perceived its applicability 
to cases of common theft; and had been in the habit, at 
their own suggestion, of practising it. They had made 
it a rule to oblige all their labourers, who were known 
to be dishonest, to pledge themselves to refrain from 
stealing. 

As they have much contact with the criminal section 
of society, and considerable intermixture with it, there 
was much pleasure in hearing that this was the form in 
which they employed moral suasion. 

A master bricklayer stated that he frequently required 
his labourers to take a pledge against stealing, and in 
reply to the inquiry, " Do they keep it ? " he answered, 
" As often as not ; but I don't mind that, I go on 
again, and make them repeat it whenever they break it ; 



BRICKLAYER AND LABOURER. 165 

unless they are very bad indeed, and do something very 
heavy, then I have to give them up to the law, for it is 
a sign that there is no good at all in them. If they 
intend to do well I soon find it oat, and help them • 
along ; and the promise is a great thing. Some time 
ago I was only temperate myself off and on, breaking 
my word at least three or four times a-year. Now, some 
of these poor fellows will keep on a couple of years or 
more, though I watch them, and would be sure to find 
them out if they did anything of the sort. One time I 
was eating my breakfast, and had left my tools at the 
other side of the wall, when I heard some one meddling 
with them. I looked over, and found that it was one of 
the labourers who had taken a large trowel, and was 
making off with it. I ran after him and stopped 
him. 

u ' What are you going to do with that ?' I said. 'I 
can't spare it to you/ and I spoke quietly, so as not to 
frighten him. The poor chap didn't sham long. 

el ' Here, take it back/ said he, ' I was going to try to 
get a few pence for it/ 

" ' FH give you the few pence said I, on one condition.'' 

u c And what is that ? ' said he. 

" ' That you come back/ said I, ' and take your oath, 



166 THE SIXTH WORK. 

down on your knees, that you won't thieve again from 
me, nor from any other person/ 

" c I will that/ said he, ' for I want something on my 
mind to stop me when the thought comes over me ; ' 
and he did swear every word that I dictated to him, and 
my belief is that it helped to keep him honest for a long: 
time. I reminded him of it once or twice, and we kept 
firm friends. I am sure he knew that I wanted to serve 
him, and I believe there was no harm done, and some 
little good/' 

This man, who had evidently given much thought to 
the subject, was then asked, if he thought that there 
would be any use in trying to collect such persons into 
special meetings, and addressing them on the subject of 
their peculiar temptation. It was his opinion, that it 
might be attempted, and a meeting was accordingly held, 
at which eleven persons attended; avowedly holders 
of an Honesty Pledge, but they held a much higher quali- 
fication, for each of the little group were influenced by 
religious feelings ; and, therefore, the character of the 
meeting was different from the assembling of ordinary 
members of a common honesty society. 

The fact that a religious movement resulted from the 



ADDEESSES TO SPECIFIED MALEFACTOES. 167 

moral effort, which, in this case, it veritably did, is signifi- 
cant of the benefit of introducing reformatory action in any 
shape. It is now ascertained, by experiment, that criminal 
people do not object to being gathered together, and ad- 
dressed as such. 

A great organization is in operation in South London, 
which, in undertaking to promote spiritual conver- 
sion, classifies criminals, and directs its teaching to 
them under the specific names of their crimes. It holds 
meetings for different characters at separate times ; thieves 
on one occasion, and other sorts of offenders in their turn. 
The results of this work are such as to encourage efforts 
to attack, specifically, the various forms of transgression 
under its peculiar heading. It is certain, that a great 
many of the very worst of malefactors, have become 
pious under this influence, and that a larger number still 
of them are morally affected. The conductors of this 
scheme do not seem to doubt their power to produce 
even greater effects than have yet appeared ; and they 
are anxious to extend their movement, and to have access 
to criminals under all circumstances, both in and out of 
prison. 

In the management and training of little children, we 



168 THE SIXTH WORK. 

all resort, as if by instinct, to the plan of entering into 
special engagements to oppose certain tendencies to do 
wrong. 

jNFo one questions the beneficial effect of making little 
ones promise obedience to our commands. 

"Willy pledges his word not to turn the water-tap : 
Bessie engages not to go near the fire-place ; and Janie 
agrees to avoid the stairs, the pond, and all other 
dangerous localities. 

There is a deep moral principle involved in this ; and 
we use it fearlessly. Sometimes we go a long way, and 
turn the force of the little one's word against itself. 
11 You must promise to tell the truth/'' is not an uncom- 
mon mode of bracing the young mind against false- 
hood. 

The familiarity of this action deprives us of the respect 
with which we should regard it. Nevertheless, it is a 
movement of great importance, identical with the principle 
which developes itself in the Honesty Pledge, as a more 
advanced proceeding of the same scheme. The method 
belongs to a rudimentary state of society, and its applica- 
tion should, therefore, be confined to the section of the 
community which approximates to that condition. 



vows. 169 

The vow is a Divine institution ; and was ordained 
for the aid of those who, in the early times of human 
history, were called to become the " peculiar people." 
They had many and great disabilities in carrying out the 
precepts of the moral law ; and, for their benefit, under 
circumstances of trial which they showed themselves 
unable to sustain, vows were invested with honour and 
dignity, by all the pomp and ceremonials of a form of 
worship, in which moral impression and sensation were 
cultivated to the highest degree. 

Ancient practice thus sanctions the Honesty Pledge for 
minds ungoverned by the higher constraint of holiness, 
and untutored in the requirements of faith. Tor pious 
and spiritually influenced persons they are needless; and 
any such binding themselves in this way is inconsistent 
Vith their position, and with the proper nature of the 
act. 

There are frequently found, however, in the better 
taught estates of life, instances of persons to whom the 
restraint of a promise seems useful. They are ill able 
to summon their force against self-indulgence ; and re- 
quire the power, which it gives, of centralizing their 
efforts. 



170 THE SIXTH WORK. 

This is often observed with regard to the Tem- 
perance Pledge, which is adopted in cases where 
common conviction fails to subdue the inveterate habit 
of drink ; and it is possible that some who find them- 
selves weak on the point of honesty, might be led to 
strengthen their morality by the same means. 

There are habits and doings — very common acts, indeed 
— which do not bear the test of strict investigation, in which 
members of even the higher orders of society transgress, 
almost unconsciously. The sense of integrity is not keen 
in some, whose circumstances in life ought to have 
secured better training. We do not well see how the 
Honesty Pledge can reach them. The management of 
such a scheme as would reach these offenders would be 
impracticable. They are outside our province ; and we 
can only deplore their lack of conscientiousness. But' 
it does occur, occasionally, that persons are encoun- 
tered in commercial dealings whose transactions are not 
thoroughly upright. Here something may be done, that 
may spare much evil to the individual and to the com- 
munity. 

There have been interesting instances of this, in con- 
nection^ with our Honesty Pledge ; a few of which we 



UPRIGHT COMMERCIAL TRANSACTIONS. 171 

will give, collecting them from among many others, of 
which they are very fair specimens. 

A lady made some purchases in a large shop, and paid 
for them. When she was about to leave the counter, 
she was surprised by the question : — 

" Shall the goods be accompanied by the bill ? " 

" I have paid for them," she replied. 

" Pardon me, madam," said the salesman, " there is 
some mistake; I have not received the money." 

The lady stood, and calmly fixing her eyes on his 
countenance, solemnly and slowly put the question to 
him : 

" Are you an honest man ? " 

His face flushed, and conscience-stricken, he stam- 
mered some incoherent answer. His interrogator walked 
away without adding a word ; and no further application 
was made to her for the money. 

In a few days, she went again to the shop, and confronted 
her convict. He could not meet her gaze, and she perceived 
that he was endeavouring to escape her. With as kind 
and encouraging a manner as she could assume, she inter- 
cepted him ; and addressed him directly with reference 
to the late transaction. She proposed that he should 



172 THE SIXTH WORK. 

take the Honesty Pledge, and lie agreed to do so. An 
appointment was made for the purpose. It was kept. 
The engagement was seriously written and signed ; the 
man's hand trembled as he took the pen : 

" This may be the salvation of me/' he ejaculated, 
" I was beginning to go a bad road."" 

His account of himself, then freely given, was most 
interesting. He was commencing a course of systematic 
fraud ; and this was the first instance of detection. The 
affair affected him deeply, and proved a thorough 
check. He has now, for several years, maintained not 
only a good character, but a good conscience; and 
asserts that he has not once since transgressed in the 
same way ; but has kept his promise to be just and true 
in his dealings with his employer/ and with the cus- 
tomers. There is corroborative evidence in the fact that 
he is still in the same warehouse, and that he retains a 
firm friendship for the person before whom he entered 
into the undertaking. 

M. C, a young woman, now a cashier in a shop, was, 
ten years ago, convicted by a former employer of a \ery 
serious fraud. She was directly remonstrated with ; aud 
her father, a man occupying a situation of trust with 



M. C. AND HER SISTER. 173 

much respectability, was sent for. In his presence, the 
girl, with great solemnity, made a promise to endeavour 
to overcome her temptation to steal. She was closely 
watched for more than two years, without being detected 
in any further offence ; and she then changed her employ- 
ment for the one in which she is at present engaged. 
She has, up to this time, proved herself trustworthy in 
transacting monev business. Meantime, the friend who 
induced her to make this moral effort, has had frequent 
conversations with her : and has received repeated 
assurances of the valuable effect of the Honesty 
Pledge over her inward consciousness. M. C. has no 
symptom of piety ; she has an amiable disposition, and 
many good qualities, which, if she had pursued the 
criminal career, the probability is she would, by this time, 
have lost ; for they would have been dispersed by the 
measures she would have taken, to maintain her war 
with society. 

A sister of this girl's, at a very early age, began to 
show symptoms of a similar inclination; and M. C. 
brought her to the lady from whom she had taken the 
pledge, with a request that the same sort of promise, that 
had proved so useful to her, might be administered to her 



174 THE SIXTH WORK. 

sister. It was done, and there has been as beneficial a 
result as in the case of the elder girl. These sisters recall 
with deep gratitude the transaction that nerved them to 
resist theft; and willingly give their testimony, when called 
on to do so, to the good of the Honesty Pledge. 

Another instance, of a different kind, which occurred 
about sixteen years ago, illustrates its effect as a security 
for uprightness, and the utility of having a clear under- 
standing on the subject of a man's moral difficulties. 

A ship was wrecked on the south coast one very 
severe winter. The lives of all on board were saved, 
but many lost their whole property in the waves. 
J. S., one of the latter, was a man, who, with his wife 
and three children, was proceeding to Australia, when 
their voyage was thus brought to a disastrous end. The 
residents on the shore where it occurred, were anxious 
to help the sufferers from the wreck ; and this man, among 
others, was asked by a gentleman what aid his circum- 
stances required. His reply was, that his case had a 
peculiar difficulty, for that he was emigrating in order to 
recover, in the Colonies, a character for honesty, which he 
acknowledged that he had justly forfeited. 

He stated, that he had recently undergone two years' 



CAPABILITY OF EX-CRIMINALS. 175 

imprisonment, for fraudulently appropriating the money 
of his employer, a London warehouseman. The man 
solemnly averred that he had only committed one act of 
crime ; and he declared that it was his determination 
to remain moral, and to avoid in future similar trans- 
gression. 

His auditor, favourably impressed by his evident sin- 
cerity, willingly agreed to receive his promise to that effect, 
and then found him employment. During ten years he 
conducted himself meritoriously in the work in which he 
was placed ; and the work itself which was of a cha- 
racter not usually intrusted in such hands, adds to the 
interest of the case. 

A. ragged school for boys of the " dangerous " class 
was being established in the neighbourhood ; and the 
anxiety which the ex-prisoner exhibited, to be allowed 
to help these little ones ; and the knowledge which he 
seemed to have of how to do it, suggested the idea of 
giving him employment in connection with it. 

The experiment appeared to be a serious hazard ; but 
the result was most successful ; and the case has been used 
as a precedent, on more than one occasion, for the en- 
gagement of reformed persons in the work of restraining 



176 THE SIXTH WORK. 

others from vice. Four similar instances are known, in 
which ex-criminals have acted with extraordinary power 
in the reforming of others ; and facts appear to justify 
the conclusion, that there is some capability in them 
for such labour, not yet sufficiently appreciated. 

The ragged school referred to prospered under the 
management of J. S, He remained in connection with 
it until the growing wants of his family required a fur- 
ther effort for their advancement, when, to the great regret 
of its promoters, he withdrew from it to engage in a 
more lucrative business. 

The Honesty Pledge was an engine, the power of 
which he extensively tested. He and others give its 
practice their unqualified support. Some prison officers 
concur in this testimony ; and cases might be gathered 
from their experience, of the utility of fortifying by this 
means, the good resolutions of those who desire to become 
moral. 

A short time ago, a young woman, in one of 
the London prisons, was found willing to enter into an 
agreement, not to repeat her offence — a common larceny. 
She was most grateful to hear, that, on her discharge 
from prison, and on her return to her distant home, a lady, 



TESTIMONY TO HONESTY PLEDGE* 177 

who had been told of her determination, would visit her ; 
and would endeavour to support her in her resolution. 
She was made fully aware that no pecuniary help would 
be afforded her, that it was only moral superintendence 
that would be given ; and that it would only secondarily 
affect her prospects of employment. This did not deter 
her ; and she insisted on pledging herself. There were 
no religious sentiments in her case. She had frequently 
ridiculed the idea of pretending to be pious ; and had 
never attempted to deceive those who applied themselves 
to the spiritual instruction of the prisoners, by affecting to 
accept their counsel, and to reciprocate their feelings. 
She was consequently regarded as hardened and hopeless; 
and as having little promise beside a speedy return 
to the prison walls. As yet, she has not done so ; but 
it is too soon to say anything further regarding her 
case. 

It is, by no means, a light testimony to be able to 
add that criminals themselves, express an approval of 
this method of aiding them; and are rather more 
anxious to avail themselves of it than seems advisable 
to many who are willing to befriend them. Their contin- 
ual breaches of their promises weary and disgust their 

N 



178 THE SIXTH WORK. 

most ardent assistants ; but, whenever a victory is 
achieved by any of these poor people, they do not 
hesitate to acknowledge the value of this instru- 
mentality. 

Women, who have been in prison, and whose cases 
have been introduced to benevolent ladies, manifest so 
much thankfulness for the oversight granted them, that 
it cannot be otherwise than a benefit to them, that the 
Government supplies an agency for the purpose of afford- 
ing them help and protection, which is analogous in its 
nature to the Honesty Pledge. 

In the special case of women, however, we believe 
that the help of benevolent female interference is the 
most valuable aid that can be given. 

The new arrangement, by which all licensed convicts 
are supervised by the police, cannot be of close application 
to women. It is not co-extensive with their need, for the 
bulk of those who are discharged from prisons are not 
holders of tickets-of-leave ; nor can it possibly have the 
same influence as the effort of their own sex on their 
behalf. 

The plan, which is, at length, established by the 
State, is one which forms part of the working of 



SIMPLE MACHINERY. 179 

all our charitable societies for the aid of prisoners. Under 
some heading or other, it appears in all their reports ; 
and it is to be desired that a system of registration may, 
in time, be adopted that will centralize the effort, and 
enable it to show its results. 

The issue of the Honesty Pledge in some systematic 
manner would secure this ; and give datum on which to 
found statements of the progress of attempts to restore 
criminals to moral living. 

Temperance societies, by a very simple machinery, 
manage to accomplish all that would be needful to render 
the honesty movement tangible. It would not be im- 
possible to circulate a little formal " pledge " among 
those who are under guardianship; and the reserved 
duplicate would furnish all the needful information, with- 
out violating the secrecy of the transaction. 

It was, for a long time, objected that the police 
supervision of convicts, to which we have alluded, would 
encounter popular opposition; but the contrary is proved 
to be the fact. It is working, so far as it has been tried, 
satisfactorily. Mr. Eecorder Hill, in his address to the 
Birmingham Borough Sessions' Jury, July 5th, 1865^ 
sums up a very interesting collection of reports, which 



180 THE SIXTH WORK. 

he made connected with this matter, in the emphatic 
words, that : — 

For the first time in the history of English jurisprudence, 
an alliance has been established between the officers of justice 
and discharged criminals, to operate for the benefit of all — 
of the class dismissed and set at large, of the officers, and of 
the whole nation — an alliance which, while it is hardly 
within the limits of possibility that it should be perverted to 
evil, must present strong motives and excellent opportunities 
for good. 

Signal marks and tokens show that every labour 
which has for its object the suppression of crime, is 
blessed by God; and to those who are willing to be 
instruments in this Sixth Work of Christian service, we 
commend the use of " The Honesty Pledge/' as one of 
the most efficacious means of promoting the desired 
end. 






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